notes from mid-hants. i> 



March. 



On the 5th we found a Stock Dove sitting on her eggs — a 

 somewhat early date ; and on the 6th the Black-headed Gulls, 

 which visit us daily from Southampton Water from September to 

 April, began to assume the dark brown hood. On this date we 

 saw a flock of six grey geese feeding in a stubble-field on the 

 downs ; we could not determine their species. On the 7th 

 Mr. Chalkley received a young male Peregrine, Falco peregrinus, 

 shot near Stockbridge. On the 13th (as recorded in 'The 

 Zoologist' for April, 1891, I found a Rough-legged Buzzard, 

 Buteo lagopus, alive in a rabbit-trap, where I had seen a large 

 hawk circling on Feb. 14th. On the 17th we found a second 

 early Stock Dove's nest. On the 19th the Peewits settled on the 

 fields for the breeding season, and in walking over a turnip-field 

 we picked up some half-dozen which had been killed by a weasel 

 or stoat whilst roosting. On the 20th Chiffchaffs were singing 

 loudly in the hedges. Rooks were rather later than usual in 

 laying this year ; only two nests, out of thirty, contained eggs, 

 and two was the largest number of eggs found, on the 22nd. On 

 this date the Willow Wrens arrived. On the 26th Mr.E.D.Luard, 

 writing to ' The Field,' reported a Swallow from Winchester. On 

 the 27th Wheatears arrived, and we saw the last winter Snipe. 

 A great number of Snipe remain to breed on Bransbury Common, 

 near Stockbridge, and a few nest every year in the water-meadows 

 near Alresford ; but I cannot find any instance of their nesting 

 at Winchester ; they may occasionally do so at Fisher's Pond, 

 where I have observed them late on in April. On the 30th, 

 a correspondent of the 'Hampshire Independent' reported a 

 Swallow from Romsey. 



April. 



On the 1st I saw a Swallow above Fisher's Pond. Only one 

 pair of Coots had laid, and onty two eggs were in the nest. I have 

 found a clutch of nine eggs "hard-set" as early as March 25th 

 there. On the 3rd I found the first clutch of Peewit's eggs. After 

 the 6th the Gulls paid us no more regular visits ; Mr. A. W. S. 

 Fisher saw one Common Gull, Larus canas y on the 10th. Gulls 

 are probably attracted to Winchester by the Sewage Farm, and 

 the food it provides; they do not visit Stockbridge or Alresford 

 at all regularly. It is strange that they should find it necessary 



