NOTES FROM MID-HANTS. 301 



the shores of Portsmouth Harbour. On the 11th, a Herring 

 Gull was shot at Crawley, and forwarded to Mr. Chalkley ; and 

 on the 13th, he received a Dipper, Cinclus aquaticus, which had 

 been shot on Chilbolton Down. It will be remembered that a 

 bird of this species was shot at St. Cross, Winchester, on Nov. 

 28th, 1892. On the 19th, I went down to Porchester, where I 

 saw some Curlews, Redshanks, and numerous Dunlin and Ringed 

 Plover. On the 20th, Mr. Stares saw four Greenshanks near 

 Porchester. I returned to Winchester on the 20th, and found 

 the place swarming with Pied Wagtails, mostly immature birds. 

 Mr. Thomas Groome, of Stockbridge, writing to * The Field,' 

 says: "A couple of Quail were killed by Mr. T. Cannon and his 

 party on Sept. 11th, in the parish of Nether Wallop, Hants. 

 Not far from the spot where they were killed, I flushed another 

 on Oct. 7th. Nearly every summer in this neighbourhood, when 

 the corn is standing, I hear their call, but seldom find them in 

 the shooting season." Mr. W. H. Turle informs me that twenty- 

 three Quails were shot about Newton Stacey in September, " far 

 more than we have ever had before." Mr. E. F. Atkins told me 

 that they had no doubt bred this year near Andover, for he had 

 frequently heard and seen them at a place some two miles from 

 that town. Curiously enough, Mr. Stares had seen no Quails 

 this year at Porchester, where, generally, some occur every 

 autumn. Corncrakes were also scarce here this autumn, whereas 

 forty-seven were shot at Newton Stacey in September (W. H. 

 Turle, in litt.) ; and I was informed that a large number were 

 shot about Abbot's Barton. The Hon. A. H. Baring informed 

 me that a Quail's nest was found at Itchen Stoke, as in 1892. 

 On the 29th, I went down to the New Forest, where I observed 

 several Ring Ousels, Turdus torquatus, on migration ; Mr. G. V. 

 Clarke informed me that he had seen numbers of Whinchats, 

 Pratincola rubetra, evidently on migration. The first appearance 

 of the Gulls on their daily visits was on the 23rd. 



October. 

 On the 10th Mr. Stares saw a flock of Tree Sparrows, Passer 

 montanus, on Titchfield Common. A good many Goldfinches about 

 on the downs this month. Mr. Ensor, on the 18th, saw five Stone 

 Curlews, (Edicnemus scolopax, on one of the warrens where they 

 breed in the summer, some five miles from Winchester. On the 



