216 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



had been shooting over one of the large Snipe bogs near Trecastle 

 in December last, told rne that his party had moved from thirty 

 to forty Jack Snipe in one day. This little bird has a very strong 

 scent; most dogs hunt them with eagerness, and pointers and 

 setters usually stand them with great staunchness. 



Curlew, Numenius arquatus. — Breeds very generally with us 

 on most, if not all, of our hills, making its appearance with great 

 regularity about the middle of March, and going away again — 

 I think to the sea-side — before or by the 1st September. Miss 

 Lloyd, of Llandefailog, tells me that this year the Curlews have 

 come to their breeding places earlier than their usual time. They 

 are certainly on the increase, and I think that being protected 

 in this county from the 1st March to the 1st August may, in a 

 great measure, account for this. The Curlew is a bold bird in 

 the breeding season, when, like many other birds, it seems to 

 throw off its exceeding caution. I once saw a Curlew make a 

 very determined attack on an old Carrion Crow that was probably 

 on the look-out for one of its young ones. The Crow stood no 

 chance against the Curlew, witli its grand free flight, and was 

 soon beaten off and pursued until both were close to me. The 

 exceedingly appropriate name of the Curlew in Welsh is " Chwi- 

 banog-y-mynydd" (the whistler of the mountain). 



The Whimbrel, Numenms phceopus, is unknown in this county. 



Common Crane, Grus clnerea. — Although now, of course, 

 extinct, yet I think it must have formerly occurred here in years 

 gone by in some numbers, from the fact that the Welsh, both 

 here and in Carmarthenshire, invariably call, in English, the 

 Heron a "Crane" — indeed I never remember hearing a native 

 call the Heron by any other name. The Welsh for Crane, as 

 given in Richard's Dictionary, is " Crychydd," but he does not 

 apply this word to the Heron, although two of the other names 

 of the Crane and Heron are identical in Welsh ; still I always 

 hear the Heron called " Crychydd" by the Welsh both here and 

 in Carmarthenshire, and this would lead one to believe that the 

 name of the Crane had in some way descended to the Heron, and 

 although this is far from conclusive as to the former occurring 

 here, still I think it is well worth noticing. 



Heron, Ardea cincrea. — Very general everywhere on all our 

 rivers and streams. It breeds sparsely in scattered pairs all over 

 the county ; sometimes there are two or three nests in the vicinity 



