Arrivals, &c., of Birds. By John Aitchison. 208 



■was unusually mild, or even warm, and several of our native birds commenced 

 to breed in the first month of the year. On the 16th January a nest of the 

 Missel Thrush was found on the bare branch of a young ash tree in a planta- 

 tion on the west side of Middleton, and bordering close to the moors. It was 

 nearly completed, and on the 20th it contained two eggs. On the 24th Jan- 

 uary a Blackbird's nest was found at Ho wick, containing four eggs pretty 

 well incubated. In the rookery here (Belf ord) the Rooks were very busy 

 nest- building by the end of January ; and many of them were sitting on eggs 

 by the middle of February, and numbers of young rooks were observed hop- 

 ping about on the branches, and others were able to fly about by the beginning 

 of April. Woodpigeona and Starlings were equally forward in beginning 

 nesting operations. I observed Starlings were paired early in January, and 

 on the 12th I saw a pair examining into an unused chimney of the Work- 

 house here, evidently seeking for nesting accommodation. It was not, how- 

 ever, until the 30th that I saw them carrying materials, and knew that they 

 had then begun nest building. In speaking of the Starling I may remark 

 that this species has increased immensely in this district during the last sum- 

 mer. In autumn large flocks were to be seen flying about the fields, and the 

 numbers that visited Middleton Hall in the evenings were something prodigi- 

 ous. The flocks continued to arrive from all parts of the district almost in- 

 cessantly for the space of an hour and a half or two hours, and although it is 

 impossible to give anything like an approximate opinion of their numbers, I 

 believe I am quite under the mark in saying that there could not be less than 

 from 100,000 to 150,000 birds collected there at one time. Their number 

 were simply immense ; and people who have lived all their lives in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and others who came from a distance to see them, declared they 

 never saw anything like it in their lives before. They roosted upon the 

 laurel shrubs on each side of the carriage drive and round about Middleton 

 Hall ; and were clustered together on the branches as close as eggs in a box. 

 It was a fine sight to see these birds arrive in the evenings, as with a sweep- 

 ing circular flight, and in the strictest order the sucessive flocks settled upon 

 the trees, keeping up all the time a loud chattering noise which could be 

 heard for a considerable distance o£E, and which somewhat resembled the 

 whistling of a gentle gale of wind. 



Many of our spring migrants put in a somewhat early appearance this year. 

 I observed four Wheatears on the 20th March, and several others a few days 

 afterwards in a ploughed fleld at Belford Moor. They were all males, and I 

 saw a male and female on March 30th, flitting along on a stone wall by the 

 road side a little on the west side of Belford. This was the first female I had 

 seen this year. A few Pied Wagtails remained here all last winter ; but j 

 noticed that their numbers were considerably augmented in March, and by 

 the end of that month they had become common. Except when the winters 

 are severe, there is always a " sprinkling" of the Pied Wagtail to be found 

 about here. The ChifE-chaff I observed on March 30th. There were three 

 of them by the side of a low hedge on the road to the station, and my atten- 

 tion was first directed towards them by their well known and peculiar note. 

 On April 5 saw both Whin-chat and Stone-chat on Belford Moor for first 

 time this year, though it is probable they had arrived some days before 



