538 ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 
to the keepers the flight had been going on regularly, both 
morning and evening, for eight days, and they were more 
plentiful than in most years. I often heard Woodcocks 
later on, and on the 20th of April still found six of them on 
passage at one place, while some were calling on the 25th, 
even as early as half-past four. 
I fancy that this season these birds travelled quickly over 
the dry deciduous woods, and instead of stopping in them for 
some time, as they generally do in March, flew straight to 
their breeding-places among the damp coniferous forests. 
From what the keepers told me, the Cormorant (Phala- 
erocorax carbo) appeared on the Danube below Vienna earlier 
than usual. On March 14th I found all the paired birds at 
their nests, to which they were busily giving the final touches, 
and by the 10th of April the females were sitting hard. 
For several years past I had now and then noticed a white- 
bellied bird among the crowd of Cormorants. This year I 
again saw this singular individual, which seemed to have no 
nest, and I managed to shoot it on one of the arms of the 
river close by. The whole of the underparts, beginning from 
the bill, were pure white, with the exception of a few black 
spots, and the back, top of the head, and uppersides of the 
wings were shot with silver-grey, the undersides of the wings 
being reddish brown. Careful comparison showed that in all 
the measurements—length, breadth, wings, bill, tail, tarsus, 
middle toe—this singular bird was distinctly smaller than the 
ordinary Cormorant. 
It is for experts to determine whether in the case of this 
specimen we have to do with an abnormal bird or possibly 
with one of the two closely allied species. 
The Grey Herons (Ardea cinerea) came this year to their 
breeding-grounds in the auen of the Danube, near Vienna, 
earlier than vital On March 14th I found them already 
busy with the building of their nests, and by April 10th 
