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to be enlivened by the strange "humming" of the Snipe, which 

 breeds in many places throughout the county. Our Author calls 

 the sound " drumming," as do many other writers, but we prefer 

 the term " humming," not only because it seems to indicate 

 more exactly the nature of the sound produced (as we are quite 

 convinced) by the vibration of the flight-feathers, but also 

 because the name " mire-drum " is, or was, by common consent, 

 locally bestowed upon the Bittern, in former days resident 

 wherever there were meres and reed- and rush-grown bogs for it 

 to skulk in, and doubtless a common Pembrokeshire bird. In 

 the summer many of the cliffs along the coast, and most of the 

 islands, are thronged with sea-fowl, amongst which the Gannet 

 and Manx Shearwater are remarkable as having breeding- 

 stations in but few other places in the kingdom. 



But in reviewing the Pembrokeshire avifauna, it seems to us 

 that the chief interest centres in those species which are con- 

 spicuous by their absence ; bearing in mind the western position 

 of the county, and the fact that many of these absentees are 

 unknown also in Ireland. According to Mr. Mathew, the 

 following species which are common in most of the English 

 counties, as also in Central and Eastern Wales, are either never 

 seen, or are extremely rare in Pembrokeshire, and of those 

 marked with an asterisk not a single example has been known to 

 occur : — Redstart, ^Nightingale, Lesser Whitethroat, Garden 

 Warbler, *Dartford Warbler, Wood Wren, *Reed Warbler, 

 Nuthatch, Ray's Wagtail, Great Grey Shrike, Red-backed 

 Shrike, Pied Flycatcher, Hawfinch, *Tree Sparrow, *Mealy 

 Redpoll, *Twite, Cirl Bunting, Wood Lark, Great Spotted 

 Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Wryneck, *Osprey, 

 *Grey Lag Goose, Black Grouse, Spotted Crake, Stone Curlew, 

 and Dotterel. 



Of these the Reed Warbler, the Garden Warbler, and the 

 Lesser Whitethroat, appear to be very rare throughout Wales, as 

 they are also in the south-west of England. 



It is curious that the Yellow Wagtail is only seen in Pembroke- 

 shire as it passes in spring and autumn, there being no instance 

 on record of its having remained to nest. The number of species 

 ascertained to breed in the county is 113, but since the com- 

 mencement of the century three others have ceased to do so, 

 namely, the Kite, the Marsh Harrier, and the Black Guillemot. 



