THE ZooLocist—Marcu, 1875. 4363 
There is a general dearth of all birds, both in the marsh and the 
higher districts, excepting the- insatiable and ubiquitous wood 
pigeon. 5 
Larks.— December 11. To-day there was an extraordinary 
migration of these birds to the south: the previous night the frost 
had been severe, with heavy snow squalls, so that the fields were 
completely covered before daybreak. In the gray of early morning 
T saw flock after flock of larks, crossing the fields flying about 
thirty feet above the ground, sometimes lower, as they had occa- 
sionally to rise above the tall hedgerows in their course, dropping 
again on the other side to their former elevation. These flocks 
numbered from many hundreds to as few as twenty; their line of 
flight was always the same,—from N.N.W. to S.S.E.,—a course 
which would take them southward along the line of the Lincoln- 
shire coast: they continued to pass, with very slight intermissions, 
in compact flocks, as well as in irregular bodies scarcely to be 
called flocks, till one o’clock, when I left home. The same day 
I observed immense flocks of golden plovers passing in the same 
direction. The larks which remained with us during the severe 
weather fed almost exclusively on the leaves of the turnip and cole 
plant. 
Ruff.—A ruff was shot at Humberstone during the first week in 
December. 
Green Plover.—December 15. About this date the peewits to a 
bird left the district. The bulk of our brownheaded gulls left 
about the same date. 
Brambling.—December 26. There was a large flock of male 
bramblings in the marsh stackyard this morning, feeding in com- 
pany with many other birds. I shot several examples in very 
beautiful plumage: some had the head and mantle rich purple- 
black, with some only of the feathers slightly edged with pale 
brown; in others this gray-brown was the predominaut colour: 
scarcely two birds, however, were alike. 
Goldfinch.—Uncommonly uumerous during the severe weather ; 
I have seen ten or a dozen, always in pairs, during a morning walk. 
They principally frequent the tall herbaceous weeds, as Centaurea 
nigra and Senecio jacobza, on the sloping sides of the drains, to 
the withered seed-cases of which they cling and hang in various 
