216 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
migrants seems to have been general. I have not seen or heard of a single 
Woodcock. Fieldfares and Redwings arrived here in countless numbers 
about the fourth week in October, and after staying a few weeks they 
disappeared, nor have I seen—with the exception of a flock of Redwings 
which appeared on the 26th December—a single example of either species 
since. There has been scarcely any migratory movement among our partial 
migrants, yet it is certain we received a large immigration of Rooks up to 
the end of autumn. Hen Chaffinches, as usual, migrated, returning, 
however, about the end of February. Starlings have been more or less in 
flocks all the winter. When collecting cocoons of Saturnia Carpini on the 
moors, I was surprised at the number of Wrens I met with till the end of 
December. They must have found a scanty subsistence; I had a chase 
after one of them, and J would strongly recommend it to those whose habits 
of life are of a sedentary character, as I can testify to its beneficial effects in 
calling the dormant muscles into action. Vast flocks of Mealy Redpolls 
have visited our birch copses this winter. I saw them many times in 
December, but took them to be Lesser Redpolls. On the 4th February 
I saw two which had been shot out of the flock, and identified them as 
Mealy Redpolls. Their superior size, the comparatively light-coloured rump, 
and the relative length of the fourth primary, are features which sufficiently 
differentiate them from the commoner species. I first saw the Pied 
Wagtail on the 24th February. A person brought me a Stonechat which 
had been shot on the 5th March. Probably this was not a migrant. 
Wheatears were somewhat late in their arrival. his might have been 
owing to the cold weather which set in on the 21st March. They did not 
arrive here until the 6th April—E. P. P. Burrerrrexp (Wilsden). 
Spring Micration of Birps.—I expressed my conviction (p. 80) that 
Mr. Cordeaux was wrong in stating that the song of the Willow Wrens was 
dependent upon, and consequently not heard until, the arrival of the 
females, which succeed the males, Mr. Cordeaux thinks, a few days. 
I believe, providing the weather is warm and their insect-food abundant, we 
hear their song immediately after their arrival. This has been undoubtedly 
the case this year. It seems to be less capricious in its time of arrival, and 
not so susceptible to atmospheric influences, as most of our summer migrants. 
The date on which it made its appearance in 1876 was the 14th April, 
although a bitterly north-east wind prevailed. In 1877, on the 12th, which 
was also a most cold and backward spring. During the present year the 
wind was west, temperature warm. I heard a Ring Ouzel on the 14th 
April; and an ornithological friend told me he had both seen and heard it 
on this date. Probably it had been absent for a few days, as a gamekeeper 
told me that he and a friend had seen one on the 6th. On the evening of 
the 17th April I saw a flock of Fieldiares—for the first time since their 
