WAYSIDE NOTES FROM THE CONTINENT. 361 
crossed this bridge without a thought of a certain 26th of August, 
seventy-three years ago, when fair Dresden was girdled with a 
ring of fire, and contending nations piled the beautiful Grosser 
Garten with their dead and dying in desperate efforts to beat 
back the vanguard of Napoleon’s army, which, to the number of 
60,000, was unceasingly pushed across this grey old Augustus- 
brucke into the Altstadt through all the doubtful hours of that 
gigantic conflict. 
Except in the low countries,—Holland and Belgium,—Rooks 
and Starlings are much less numerous than in England; to be 
accounted for, perhaps, by the absence of anything like extensive 
tracts of grass-land. The Grey Crow is common everywhere, 
and leads a life of unrestricted happiness, undisturbed by game- 
keepers or dreams of strychnined eggs; they nest everywhere in 
the woods and forests, and in the parks and public grounds, and 
are always to be seen in considerable numbers, foraging along 
the banks of the Elbe with all the boldness and familiarity of a 
favoured species. After seeing the Grey Crow in Germany, one 
may cease to wonder at the countless flights which cross the 
North Sea in October into our eastern counties. 
Much credit is due in North Germany to all classes of the 
people for their uniform kindness and thoughtfulness where 
birds are concerned. I have seen a nest of half-fledged Black- 
birds continue undisturbed, and with the old birds feeding them, 
in a rose-tree close to a much-frequented thoroughfare, and 
fully exposed to every passer by. Under similar circumstances 
in England, the young would not have remained unmolested for 
five minutes. 
On June 11th, when travelling from Dresden by Leipsig and 
Magdeburg to Hamburg, I noticed a Goshawk, several Buzzards, 
numerous Crested Larks and Turtle Doves, and more Partridges 
than I had seen in any other district in Germany. In the 
meadows near Hamburg, many Herons and two or three Storks. 
At a station where we remained some minutes I saw the Lesser 
Grey Shrike (Lanius minor) on the top of a six-foot pine growing 
on some waste land close to some houses. I had a very good look 
at this bird through the binocular, and had not the least doubt 
as to the species. 
June 12th.—When off Cuxhaven this morning, twenty-seven 
Grey Geese passed, flying north. About noon the same day two 
ZOOLOGIST.—SEPT. 1886. 25 
