52 fHE ZOOLOGiSl". 



I notice that the few Song Thrushes, and many Blackbirds, that 

 come regularly to the banquet scattered for them on the swept 

 gravel, fight furiously with their own species, but do not molest 

 the Sparrows, Chaffinches, Redbreasts, or Hedgesparrows. The 

 Nuthatches and Tits are regaled at some of the windows of our 

 top storey, and very rarely come down to the terrace. 



24th. A Dabchick, caught under the platform at Barnwell 

 Station, was brought to me alive ; it took two or three meal- 

 worms, but declined everything else offered to it, and soon died. 



The year 1890 was, in our locality, remarkable from an 

 ornithological point of view, from the late stay of the northward- 

 bound Wood Pigeons, owing probably to the cold northerly winds 

 that prevailed almost throughout the month of May, and the 

 comparative scarcity of two of our usually abundant species, the 

 Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher. On the other hand, Swallows 

 and House Martins were remarkably abundant, and most of our 

 other vernal migrants quite up to their average numbers. The 

 extraordinarily dry weather of the latter end of August, nearly the 

 whole of September and the early days of October deprived us, 

 to a great extent, of many of our usual autumnal visitors, — 

 e.g. Spotted Crakes, Snipes, and other more or less frequent 

 waders, — and no doubt hastened the departure of the Corn Crakes, 

 which swarmed in our meadows before hay time, but had virtually 

 disappeared before September. As I have stated in these notes, 

 there was an immense passage of migratory birds in September 

 and October, but I did not hear of a Ring Ouzel, and only saw 

 one Grey Wagtail during the autumn. I am of opinion that the 

 valley of the Nene, from the Wash as far up as Thrapston, is 

 certainly a much-used route of migration ; but I believe that the 

 majority of our autumnal migrants leave the valley somewhere 

 above that town, and strike across country for the eastern affluents 

 of the Severn, and my theory regarding this last autumn is that 

 the migrants, with this intention, started earlier than usual, and 

 finding our district dry and unproductive, passed on without 

 lingering; the river was unusually low, and is annually becoming 

 less attractive to animals of all kinds, from pollution by chemical 

 poisons. The very severe frosts and snow of December brought 

 us no uncommon birds, even before all our streams were com- 

 pletely ice-bound, as they have been, and still are at this 

 moment (Jan. 8th, 18U1). 



