NOTES AND QUERIES. 25 



reared is now at an end, and nothing is left for the Kite's well-wishers but 

 to hope that it may find in speedy extinction its only possible refuge from 

 persecution. The birds themselves are seldom shot, but must shortly 

 succumb to the persistent and relentless attack of egg-collectors. It is 

 doubtful if a watcher in the neighbourhood of each nest could give 

 adequate protection. In regard to Welsh names of birds, it may be of 

 interest to note that I have never heard the Buzzard called boucath in Mid 

 Wales, but invariably boda or boda llwyd, i.e. " the grey Buzzard "; while 

 the Kite is sometimes known as barcud or barcutan, but more commonly 

 boda wenol, " the Swallow-Buzzard," from its forked tail.* On April 17th 

 young Kavens were squeaking in a nest upon the cliff to the north of this 

 town, some twenty-five feet above the beach. On the 18th I found the 

 Cormorants already at their nests upon the Bird Rock ; one was apparently 

 sitting. On the 30th the first Whimbrel appeared, on the spring passage. 

 Wheatears of the larger northern race were passing along shore on May 1st; 

 one of them perched on a furze-bush. On the 8th I found well-fledged 

 young in a Raven's nest near Plynlimmon ; the nest was easily reached, 

 being only fifteen feet from the foot of the rocks. A pair of White 

 Wagtails were migrating along shore on the 11th. On the 15th I found 

 two Kestrel's eggs in an untenanted Raven's nest. Upon a heather-grown 

 peat bog, on the 22ud, I came across three nests of Teal with eggs : two of 

 the nests were only fifteen yards apart. On the 25th I found the Pied 

 Flycatcher numerous in its usual haunts in north Carmarthenshire. A 

 Greater Spotted Woodpecker was breeding in a stunted oak, upon the side 

 of one of the upland dales. On June 1st I saw the whole family of Ravens, 

 referred to under date March 1st, upon the wing. On the 6th I found the 

 dried remains of a Fulmar Petrel upon the beach. A party of Wood 

 Larks, on the 14th, were feeding upon the seeds of the sea-campion (Silene 

 maritima). Several of them, when approached, squatted, only rising as I 

 came within four or five yards. On the 15th, near Devil's Bridge, I found 

 young Buzzards fully fledged, in their nest at the top of a straight slender 

 larch. At the end of the month, in a walk along the north Pembrokeshire 

 coast, I visited some of the less-known sea-bird haunts of that county. Here 

 the Shag, so scarce at Aberystwyth, largely replaced the Cormorant. More 

 than one pair of Falcons had bred successfully, and the young were strong 

 on the wing; and in two or three places the Buzzard appeared to be 

 nesting in the sea-cliffs. I met with the Cirl Bunting at Newport, and 

 again at Fishguard. The Stock Dove was numerous, but I failed to find 

 the Rock Dove, though the coast appears well suited to its requirements. 

 The well-known herd of goats at Dinas Island, where they have run wild 

 for several generations, now numbers twenty-two. None at present have 



* See ' Zoologist,' 1891, p. 173.— Ed. 



