ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 549 
they were probably brought in by the southerly gale of the 
4th and the following night. This observation was confirmed 
a few days later. 
During the middle of the day I also saw the first Swifts 
(Cypselus apus) at the cliffs on the river Beraun, and on the 
6th observed them in Prague. Next day I heard Turtle-Doves 
cooing in a little wood among the fields, and saw the males 
performing the most beautiful aerial evolutions before their 
mates. In the thickets I noticed the Whitethroat (Sylvia 
cinerea) and the Lesser Whitethroat (S. garrula); among the 
flowering elder-bushes of the little gardens near the above 
wood I remarked the Icterine Warbler (Hypolais icterina), 
and in the reed-bed of a pond the Marsh-Warbler (Acro- 
cephalus palustris). There I also saw a Wagtail—not 
the Grey Wagtail (Motacilla sulphurea), which I met with 
daily on the woodland streams of this district, but another 
species with a shorter tail and somewhat different plumage. 
A good many of them were going about the reeds and flitting 
from one tall stem to another. I also flushed a wonderfully 
handsome Little Bittern (Ardea minuta), as well as several 
paired couples of Garganey Teal (Anas querquedula), the 
females rising from their nests. 
A trustworthy keeper, in detailing his observations to me, 
stated that some days ago he had seen an Osprey (Pandion 
haliaétus) fishing, and afterwards swooping at the ducks 
on the above-mentioned pond; nor would the bird leave 
the place until it had been twice hit. This is the first 
time since I came to this part of the country that I have 
heard of the appearance of the Osprey in that district, 
where three little ponds are the only waters within a wide 
radius. 
On May 8th I passed a couple of days at a farm-house 
situated on the borders of the woods already alluded to. There 
I found that the manager had a small collection of birds 
