9108 Birds. 
but this is unusual. I found amongst my papers a note that “ They are tame, taking 
short flights, and then settling on ledges of the cliffs or on the beach, jerking their 
tails, like the common redstart, when they settle. I have observed them feeding on 
small dipterous insects, which are abundant about the heaps of sea-weed. In their 
habits they seem somewhat to resemble the stonechat, but have the familiar manner of 
the robin.” This I have written as I found it from a rough note, and have not 
attempted to put itinto shape. It is just what struck me when I was in the habit of 
watching them; but I have not been near their hauvts of late, and it is now some 
years since I have seen one. I do not doubt that they are to be met with, however, in 
the very same spot where we used to see them year after year, this being one of their 
characteristics.— W. R. Hall Jordan; Teignmouth, April 30, 1864. 
Black Redstart at Alton —Among the rare feathered visitors to this district I have 
to record the black redstart, which I shot on the 23rd of March. A naturalist here 
has informed me that during a period of nearly thirty years he knows only of one more 
specimen of this bird having been found. I first observed it sitting on a hop-pole in a 
field adjoining the town. The general colour of the bird I obtained is smoke-gray.— 
W. C. Saunders ; Alton, Hants, April 21, 1864. 
Arrival of the Willow Wren and Swallow.—On the 23rd of March a friend shot a 
willow wren, and on the previous day a gentleman living in this place observed 
another bird of the same species in his garden. Whilst out walking on Saturday, the 
2nd of April, with a friend, I had the good fortune to notice along with him a solitary 
specimen of the swallow.—Jd. 
Wheatears in March.—Mr. Pamplin seems to infer (Zool. 9041), because he saw 
wheateafs in the middle of March at Bala, North Wales, that they remain there 
throughout the winter; but I think you will agree with me that this conclusion is a 
wrong one. Wheatears are usually the first of our summer migrants to appear, and it 
is by no means uncommon to see them bere by the middle of March. I shot one this 
year on the 19th of March, and have seen them as early as the 16th of that month; 
but I should not conclude, therefore, that these birds had wintered here.—J. Edmund 
Harting ; Kingsbury, Middlesex, May 11, 1864. 
Early Appearance of the Wheatear—'T wo instances are recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ 
(Zool. $041) of the appearance of the wheatear in March. On the 29th of March, 1863, 
I saw one, a male; and on the 12th of last March I saw two, male and female. Mr. 
Morris, in bis work on ‘ British Birds, says, at page 173, vol. iii.:— Sir William 
Jardine says, that they arrive in Scotland the first week in March.” I have repeatedly 
watched for their appearance in that month in different localities, and never until 
March, 1853, have I seen wheatears before the middle of April. This year they were 
seen near Edinburgh about the same time, and their appearance was considered un- 
usnally early. The whinchat was also seen about the same time, which most 
certainly is an early arrival for that bird.—J. A. Harvie Brown; Dunipace House, 
Muy 6, 1864. 
LEgys of Grasshopper Warbler.—I have again been fortunate in obtaining eggs of 
the grasshopper warbler, On the 2ist of May a friend brought me five nice speci- 
mens, which a lad had taken from the nest two days previous in Hethel Wood, a short 
distance from this city: he described the nest as composed of rye-grass, lined inside 
with the finer material of same; it was placed at the foot of an old stump, hidden by 
a tult of grass; the nest contained six eggs, slightly sat upon; one of these he un- 
fortunately broke. A nest of five eggs was taken in the same locality four years since. 
