Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 26 1 



No other Pied Flycatchers appear to have been noticed near Alnwick 

 that summer, but in the following spring they arrived in great force. Near 

 Heiferlaw Bank the first arrivals were on 4th May, when three or four 

 males appeared, and two days later, when the first female was noticed, the 

 number of males had increased to ten or a dozen individuals. In the Park 

 they were also numerous, while- at Rock between 4th and 8th May six or 

 eight examples were seen. They continued in undiminished numbers till 

 near the end of the month, by which time most of them had disappeared, 

 having px-obably passed on to their regular breeding stations. Females 

 were everywhere scarce, nearly all the birds seen being males in more or 

 less full mature plumage. 



In the Park at Alnwick, on 7th and 8th June, I saw some three or four 

 males, which were then in full song, but no females were visible and all 

 our endeavours to find a nest proved unsuccessful. That the male birds 

 had partners and nests close at hand however there could be no reasonable 

 doubt, and probably the absence of females might be accounted for by the 

 lateness of the season when most of them would be engaged in incubation. 

 About a week later a nest, containing four eggs, was discovered in another 

 part of the Park, and one or two others were afterwards reported to have 

 been found. 



Under the signature "J. W7' a paragraph appeared in the "Field" of 

 13th June, 1885, on "the breeding of the Pied Flycatcher in Northumber- 

 land," in which it is stated that "a pair of these rare birds have built their 

 nest in the grounds of Mr R. P. Matthews, Riding Hall, Bardon Mill, and 

 the hen is now sitting," but I know nothing further of the authenticity of 

 the notice. 



Although the above are the only instances that have come to my 

 knowledge of the Pied Flycatcher breeding in the district in 1885, many 

 other places were visited by them in the spring, and no doubt in some of 

 the most suitable stations a pair or two might remain through the summer. 

 About tho beginning of June a solitary bird was seen near the Pistol 

 plantations, and a week later my brother noticed a male on the banks of 

 the Whitadder below Edrington Castle. 



The 4th May seems to have been the earliest date of arrival. Upon the 

 afternoon of that day, after a continuance of cold misty weather with 

 easterly winds and a good deal of rain, an adult male appeared in the garden 

 here ; be rose at my feet from a bed of spring cabbages and alighted on a 

 post close to where I stood, the fine contrast of black and white in his 

 plumage showing to great advantage, and the white band upon the forehead 

 being conspicuously visible. On the same day a single male was seen at 

 Carhara, and another near the Tweed at Paxton ; on 7th May I noticed a 

 male in a wood near Kyloe ; on 8th Dr Stuart saw one at Chirnside ; on 9th 

 two, both males and now preserved in the Kelso Museum, were shot on the 

 Lammermuirs ; on 10th I saw four males in the Policy at Paxton House ; 

 while during the same week examples were recorded from Lumley and 

 Witton Gilbert, co. Durham; along the coast of Berwickshire ; and n\ 

 Dunbar. Generally speaking the birds only loitered Cor a few days, and 



