576 A FEW AUTUMN NOTES. 
seen in this part of the country, which is so very well suited 
to them. 4 
In 1882 all the conditions were fulfilled which would have 
led one to expect an unusually large immigration of Rough- 
legged Buzzards, and yet I never saw more than three on one 
day. The first, however, appeared on October 18th, which 
was exceptionally early. 
This autumn Montagu’s Harrier (Circus cineraceus) stayed 
with us longer than usual, for between November 15th and 
20th, when plenty of snow had already fallen, I observed some 
birds of this species on the great tracts of cultivated ground. 
On November 22nd I still remarked several Kestrels (Falco 
tinnunculus); while the Sparrow-Hawk (Astur nisus), the 
Goshawk (A. palumbarius), and the Peregrine (falco pere- 
grinus) visited us in particularly large numbers, and were 
everywhere to be met with among the covers and the clumps 
of wood in the fields. 
I was this year able to make interesting observations in con- 
nection with the migration of various species of birds, and, if 
I may make so bold a statement, I should say that there is no 
fixed order in their times of departure. Many species left us 
exactly at the times given by naturalists in their works—the 
Swallows and most of the small song-birds for instance. Not 
so the Quail, some of which I saw in a turnip-field as late as 
October 14th. The Corn-Crake also stayed much longer than 
usual, for I still met with several atthe end of October, and on 
November 6th I killed an old bird among some thick bushes 
in the middle of a wood. The Woodcock, too, were excep- 
tionally abundant this year in the neighbourhood of Prague, 
and at the end of October and the beginning of November 
were everywhere to be found in the large woods. On 
November 12th I killed one in a low little copse among the 
fields, the weather being very cold and the ground frozen but 
free from snow. 
