64 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
time taken up his quarters in this secluded part; but as there are plenty 
of rabbits he may perhaps leave the birds alone. Dabchicks come in the 
spring and breed, but appear to leave us in late summer. Coots bring up 
two broods every year, and are so tame that they hardly keep beyond the 
range of the floats of the boys who come to fish in the unpreserved ponds. 
Jays are very frequent, but they retire to breed in the denser parts of the 
forest. Kingfishers are seen occasionally, and the Nuthatch is not 
uncommon ; while Tree Creepers, Golden-crested Wrens, and the various 
Tits and Finches abound. The summer migrants are well represented, 
and I have seen years agoa passing Ring Ouzel; but perhaps the wild 
winter visitors are the most interesting. Some years ago a Red-necked 
Grebe came to the Basin, a large piece of open water in the park, where I 
watched it with a telescope for several days. Ihave also seen, on the same 
water, a female Great-crested Grebe, a Red-throated Diver, and a flock of 
Scaups. Last year a Pochard and four Tufted Ducks remained for more 
than a month on the lower ponds, where there is good cover of rushes ; 
they kept company with the Coots, and, though at first shy, they became 
curiously tame by the example of their companions. This year the Basin 
has been visited by about a score of Wild Ducks and a flock of fifteen 
Goosanders in immature plumage, which remained for five days. It was 
an interesting sight to watch the graceful fishing operations of these birds 
with a good telescope. After swimming in a compact company for a con- 
siderable time, they would all suddenly commence diving, probably having 
come over a shoal of fish, for many would be seen emerging with a fish in 
their bills, and, if one was too large to be immediately swallowed, a 
scramble would take place, and it would change beaks several times before 
being finally disposed of. To be quite sure of the species of the bird I 
made a coloured drawing from our telescopic observations, and compared 
it with the specimen in immatnre plumage at the South Kensington 
Museum, when the correspondence was exact ; it also agreed perfectly with 
the description in Yarrell. They left us on the 8th of this month 
(December). On the 15th we watched a small flock of Teal on one of the 
smaller ponds, and within the last few days have noticed Snipe, the 
Common Sandpiper, a Water Rail, and the Grey Wagtail; the latter bird 
is frequently seen here in the winter. One of the ponds is fringed with 
large alders, and during the last week these trees have been frequented by 
a flock of Siskins, among which we have noticed a few Lesser Redpolls; a 
pair of the latter were busy with the birch catkins in a copse close to the 
high road. During the winter months Peewits and Golden Plovers come 
in large numbers to the extensive and highly manured fields in this 
neighbourhood ; on the 16th March last year a flock of about a hundred 
Golden Plovers frequented the park and its vicinity, and we noticed that a 
fair proportion of the birds had already acquired the deep black on the front 
