NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF BELGIUM. 151 



finch, Corn Bunting, Eook, and Kestrel. The Missel-Thrush 

 might have been present, for at that season, with young flown, 

 it is rather a quiet bird. The Nuthatch also becomes much 

 quieter at that season than it is in the spring ; I have seen it in 

 October in the woods about La Roche, some thirty miles to the 

 eastward. And the Long-tailed Tit is not usually numerous 

 enough for one to make sure of seeing it during a search of only 

 ten days' duration. The Rook seems to be anything but gene- 

 rally distributed on the Continent. The Kestrel certainly could 

 not have been otherwise than scarce ; I expected it would be 

 common about the cliffs. But I hardly think I could have 

 overlooked the other six species. The conspicuous Pied Fly- 

 catcher, which to all appearance would have been exactly suited 

 by the hanging woods coming down to a dashing river and 

 orchards in the Lesse valley, is so local in its distribution that 

 one must never wonder at not finding it. But I was astonished 

 not to see the familiar grey friend of our gardens. Gardens 

 there were in abundance, but I did not see a single Spotted Fly- 

 catcher in the district ; at all events it must have been rare, for 

 its ways make it conspicuous. When staying a few days at 

 Mechelen, later on, I found it in the Botanic Garden there. 

 The Common Redstart would not easily be overlooked, but I did 

 not see it in Belgium ; though R. titys was common. The Gold- 

 finch — conspicuous alike in plumage, song, and call-note — I did 

 not meet with ; and the Corn Bunting — which one would at first 

 expect to find enlivening the high-lying, open arable land with 

 its skirling song — remained true to its character of a curiously 

 local bird by shunning the land. But, on considering the matter, 

 I remember that there is an absence of low hedges and walls, as 

 of tall thistle and dock, on this well-cultivated field, so that the 

 Corn Bunting would have no suitable perch whereon to alight 

 after one of those wobbling flights which it delights to take, with 

 its legs dangling. Woodpeckers were scarce. I never saw either 

 the Spotted or Barred (the former I saw once at La Roche in 

 October) ; and though I occasionally heard a Gecinus, I could not 

 even decide for certain upon the species. The Ring Dove and 

 Stock Dove were both scarce ; the former curiously so. 



Tardus musicus. — Here, as in some other parts of the Conti- 

 nent, a shy forest or woodland species. Three were singing in 



