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ON BIRDS OBSERVED IN SOUTH WALES. 

 By 0. V. Aplin. 



The recent appearance in ' The Zoologist ' of a review 

 of Mr. Mathew's ' Birds of Pembrokeshire,' and two very 

 interesting lists of Welsh birds, viz., Mr. Rawlings' list of the 

 birds of the Barmouth district (p. 328), and Mr. Harold 

 Raeburn's list of birds seen in Mid- Wales (including parts 

 of Montgomery, Radnor, and Cardigan) in May, 1894 (p. 406), 

 has suggested that perhaps a list of the species seen by me 

 during a brief visit to Carmarthenshire in June last might be of 

 interest for comparison with those above mentioned. 



The scene of my observations was a valley, with its tribu- 

 taries, and the low but steep mountains rising therefrom. The 

 tops of these hills were not more than from 1100 to 1300 feet 

 (about 1500 in some cases) above the sea-level. The sides 

 of them were often very steep ; the upper portions were rocky in 

 places; the tops consisted of moorland, chiefly covered with 

 grass, but here and there clothed with a little ling. A con- 

 siderable portion of the hillside is covered with wood, consisting 

 almost entirely of spruce and oak. In the lower parts, and 

 along the stream and torrent banks, you find alder, birch, wych- 

 elm, rowan, hazel, &c. The district therefore is suitable for 

 woodland birds. 



A few species were conspicuous by their rarity or absence. 

 Foremost amongst these was the Spotted Flycatcher, although I 

 had seen it just before on the banks of the Wye in Breconshire. 

 Mr. Raeburn does not mention meeting with it in his tour in 

 Mid-Wales. It is however reported as common at Barmouth 

 (p. 330). The Grey Wagtail I did not happen to see, probably 

 because the adult individuals of this species had betaken them- 

 selves to the smaller streams, which wind away among the moun- 

 tains, to breed, and the young had not yet come down. But it 

 was curious that I did not see a single Stonechat, though the 

 ground was suitable for it. I find that Mr. Raeburn did not 

 meet with it either. Yet it seems to be common in Pembroke- 

 shire, as well as in North Wales. I have seen it on Penmaen- 

 mawr, in Carnarvonshire, in July, and noticed a good many in 

 Merionethshire in October, 1884. Mr. Rawlings says that, 

 although resident and common in the Barmouth district, it is only 



