NOTES AND QUEBIKS. 138 



specimen of the Whitethroat (Sylvia cinerea). The day was warm and 

 beautiful, and the bird busily engaged catching insects in a hedgerow near 

 the water. Nov. 14th is, I think, the latest date on record for the appear- 

 ance of the Whitethroat in Great Britain. The second instance is that of 

 the Chiffchaff (Fhylloscopus rufus), which has broken all previous records by 

 appearing at Castle Bromwich this year on the 16th February. Mr. Ernest 

 C. Tye was shootiug Lapwings on that date, when he thought he heard the 

 well-known note of the Chiffchaff, but uttered in a low key, and caught 

 sight of a little bird skulking about a bush. Scarcely believing that it 

 could be the Chiffchaff he heard, at such an extraordinarily early period of 

 the year, he brought it down, but with a full charge of No. 6 shot (the 

 smallest shot he had with him), from a 12-bore, with the result that the little 

 bird was terribly mangled. Mr. Tye brought to me this little mass of 

 blood and feathers as proof of his correct identification, and, although it 

 looked like a hopeless case, I determined to save the skin of this record- 

 breaker, and, by dint of much patience, I have made a good specimen of it. 

 I consider the middle of March a very early date for the appearance of this 

 bird in my district ; but I have one previous record for the extreme end of 

 February, when I saw a little bird skulking about the lower part of a 

 hedgerow, but in such a manner that I could not get a sufficiently clear 

 view to be absolutely positive whether the bird was Chiffchaff or Willow 

 Warbler; and, as it remained silent, 1 had to trust to eyes instead of the 

 more satisfactory ears. However, there need be little doubt that it was a 

 Chiffchaff. That February was followed by a beautiful spring, and a hot, 

 dry summer. All the spring migrants came early, and there was a good 

 breeding season. I did not intend to go past these two instances, but I am 

 tempted to add that on the 12th February last I saw Stonechats (Pratin- 

 cola rubecula) at Earlswood. These birds cross this portion of the midlands 

 towards their breeding haunts ; and this again is the earliest date by far on 

 which I have seen them here. This, in conjunction with the appearance 

 of the Chiffchaff a few days later, led me to think that an extraordinarily 

 early migratory movement was afloat ; and on the 19th February I had a 

 long ramble — I was walking for eight hours — hoping to get a glimpse of 

 other migrants ; but in this I was disappointed. However, I was rewarded 

 with the grandest and most varied chorus of bird-song I can recall to 

 memory for such an early period of the year. The following birds were in 

 full and rich song : — Mistle- and Song-Thrushes, Blackbirds, Hedge- 

 Accentors, Wrens, Starlings, Chaffinches, Reed Buntings, Yellowhammers, 

 and Sky-Larks. Great, Blue, Coal, and Marsh Tits were all giving their 

 low calls; while the Long-tailed Tits were paired. A flock of Lesser 

 Black-backed Gulls passed overhead ; Woodpeckers were preparing their 

 nesting-holes ; Kingfishers darted across ray path, and sped before rae in 



