110 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



to be heard singing during the greater part of August. I last heard it on 

 the 24th of that month. — E. A. Swatnson (Woodlands, Brecon). 



Ornithological Notes from Devon. — The frost set in here on the 26th 

 Nov. 1 890, and immediately Brent Geese and various kinds of Ducks made 

 their appearance on the Exe Estuary. Between the 26th and 28th the 

 temperature was very low, falling to 12° in Exeter, and the wind was very 

 cold from the N.E. We had little snow here, but the Haddon Hills were 

 covered with it. Great numbers of Sanderlings and Dunlins (very grey in 

 plumage, with unusually long bills), some Coots, Brent Geese, Wigeon 

 (young males), and Goosanders were on the river, and large flocks of Ring 

 Doves, Lapwings, and Gulls (Common and Black-headed) on the sur- 

 rounding fields at the beginning of December. I saw numbers of Bramblings 

 near Topsham on the 8th ; and a Purple Sandpiper, Sheldrake, and two 

 Sclavonian Grebes were brought to a birdstuffer in the town. On the 

 14th I observed a large flock of Godwits flying over Budleigh Salterton, 

 a rather unusual sight at this time of the year. On the 18th a fine male 

 Pintail Duck in full plumage, a Bittern, and an adult Gannet were brought 

 to the birdstuffer, who had also a Reeve and a Redshank, lately shot. On 

 this day (18th) snow fell at Honiton, and it was very stormy here in the 

 evening, with heavy rain from the S.W., and on the 20th the wind blew 

 from N.E., four inches of snow falling in the evening, and by next morning 

 it lay to the depth of eight or nine inches. The first thing I saw on 

 waking, soon after daylight, was a continuous stream of birds arriving from 

 the east — Redwings, Fieldfares, Starlings, Larks, and Lapwings — and they 

 continued passing away to the westward for hours. Later in the day 1 saw 

 a few Cirl Buntings feeding with very small-sized Larks in my field ; and 

 near the sea there were numbers of Linnets, very tame and so weak that 

 they could hardly fly, so that they fell easy victims to some men and boys 

 that were knocking them down with branches. Some that I approached 

 within a few feet were picking up grass-seeds. On the 21st I think I saw 

 three Green Sandpipers on the beach. The snow cleared off in a few days ; 

 but on the 24th the Fieldfares began to succumb, and the Song Thrushes, 

 which were in great numbers in the fields, — being more numerous than I 

 ever before saw them, — were also in a bad way. I have since found many 

 of them dead, as also Missel Thrushes (which usually survive all the other 

 Thrushes), Blackbirds (males only), Redwings, and Larks. The Starlings 

 have not suffered so much as in 1888, when thousands died. The Rooks 

 were hard pressed for food, and I saw one pegging away at a dead Thrush 

 which was frozen hard: it returned to its " cold collation " at intervals for 

 several days until the whole of the fleshy parts of the Thrush had been 

 eaten. A flock of Larks has fed continuously ever since the snow cleared 

 off on my lawn, and are at work without cessation from daylight to dusk 

 pecking at the grass, which they have quite denuded in some spots. On 



