U ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. ISy G. BOLAM 



appeared about the beginning of November, and probably 

 remained till they were killed out. Drummond, the head 

 keeper, reported them to be 'quite settled' on 16th January 

 1898, and some of them were still about the woods in the 

 middle of April. I saw two which had been killed there 

 in the month of February, and another was taken in a 

 vermin trap, in the same locality, fully two months later. 



At Howick, at least one appeared in autumn, and remained 

 throughout the winter, but more than one was never seen at 

 a time ; it was still there on 24th March. On 20th January 

 a pair were reported from Alnwick Park, where a little later 

 five were said to have been seen together, and Meech, the 

 keeper at Hulne Abbey, believed that a pair nested in the 

 park during the following summer. This would in all 

 probability be the case, as Mr A. H. Evans heard two 

 calling there in April, and again another in June. About 

 Kock four or five Jays were seen during the winter, two of 

 them falling victims to the traps of a rabbit-catcher. 



A little further to the south, in Northumberland, a few 

 of the original Jays have always managed to maintain a 

 footing, but during the winter of 1897-98 their numbers 

 were very considerably increased by fresh arrivals, and they 

 appeared in several places where they had not been known 

 for many years previously. Four were shot in one day at 

 Felton Park, during covert shooting ; two others falling 

 victims to the guns under similar circumstances at Acton 

 House, where several more were caught at the pheasant 

 feeds. One pair at any rate nested in the Acton woods 

 in 1898, and I was informed that another nest had been 

 found in Hazon Dene. 



Pied Flycatcher. Muscicapa atricapilla, Linn. 



There was a considerable influx of these birds in the 

 spring of 1898, and a great rush of them in May 1899, 

 when they were to be seen flitting about all over the district, 

 especially along the coast line, and were in even greater 

 numbers than during the great visitation of 1884. 



In 1898, quite a number appeared about the gardens in 

 the village on Holy Island, on and about the 22nd May, 



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