C2 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Nor should one omit to mention the Sieg, which flows into the 

 Rhine on its right side some three miles below Bonn. Its oak 

 woods (English in everything save the absence of bluebells and 

 primroses), its poplar groves, osier-beds, hazel and alder copses, 

 have the characteristic, rare enough abroad, of sheltering as many 

 small birds as one would meet with anywhere under similar con- 

 ditions in this country. 



The woods were lifeless in mid-winter, except for large 

 parties of Tits, in which the Marsh, Great, Blue, and Coal 

 species were generally represented numerically in the order 

 named. The first and last showed the slightly distinctive 

 characters of the continental races. A spirited trill sometimes 

 led to the detection of the Crested Tit in their company, but it 

 was less numerous than any of the others. A small flock of 

 eight or ten Crested Tits, seen on Maj r 24th in a grove of Scotch 

 firs on forest-land near Siegburg, was probably a family party. 



At New Year the mountain-ashes which bordered one of the 

 chaussees were thronged with Fieldfares, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, 

 Greenfinches, Bramblings, and Bullfinches, all busily engaged 

 upon the berries. A Grey Shrike watched them, ready to pick up 

 a weakling or a straggler. A few Starlings wintered in the suburbs, 

 but this bird never became numerous, and was much less preva- 

 lent and obtrusive than in England. I only once noted a fair- 

 sized flock, to wit, near Siegburg on July 5th. The Nuthatch 

 spent the winter upon the Schloss elms, but left to breed else- 

 where. 



Every slight frost brought Crested Larks into the suburban 

 streets, singly or in pairs. About the beginning of March they 

 began to sing, often from some rubbish-heap, or from the ground 

 amongst turnips and cabbages. On March 1st the first White 

 Wagtail appeared, shortly followed by others. On the 15th 

 I noted Meadow Pipits, no doubt on passage ; Song Thrushes 

 sang well, though much less numerous than in England. The 

 17 th, the first warm spring day, brought the Black Redstart. In 

 a couple of days they were everywhere, singing from the house- 

 tops, and evidently finding the spires, vanes, and turrets, which 

 form such a marked feature of a German suburban street, much 

 to their liking. The Black Redstart is one of the few continental 

 institutions which the Englishman will regard as comparing 



