ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM THE RHINE. G9 



ence to it then proceeding in the pages of ' The Zoologist.' Little 

 need be added. The song is wonderful for its extraordinary 

 variety, energy, and, if I may so term it, tense elasticity of tone. 

 As the bird babbled volubly with puffed-out bearded throat and 

 half-erected crest, showing its red gape, one could hear in fancy 

 the alarm-notes of Swallow, Blackbird, and of every other bird in 

 the gardens. Early in June the Icterines seemed to become much 

 quieter, singing only a part of their notes, and I thought with 

 less intermixture of harsh and uncouth variations. On July 1st 

 one was singing again in the best of form, but I heard nothing of 

 them after the 6th. Is it not possible that in the recent dis- 

 cussion some writers have described the song of the nearly allied 

 Hypolais polyglotta in place of that of H. icterina 1 



The Icterine Warbler was not the last of the migrants to 

 arrive. House and Sand Martins did not put in an appearance 

 till the middle of May, and the Red-backed Shrike was still later. 

 Some of the Sand Martins nested in the outlets of small drain- 

 pipes along the Rhine wall. 



Some twelve miles up the river from Bonn, and nearly oppo- 

 site to Remagen, a bold volcanic bluff — the Erpeler Lei — over- 

 looks the Rhine. Its face has been quarried and shows basaltic 

 columns, while in the rocks above, towards the summit, a pair of 

 Falcons breed. As I passed, one or other of them would sail out 

 overhead with angry outcry. At the foot of the cliff were sloping 

 screes, frequented by Stonechats, Black Redstarts, and Linnets. 

 Here I heard a song which completely puzzled me. It was short, 

 but bright and cheerful, of about the same length and compass 

 as a Redstart's, The telescope showed a bird the size of a 

 Yellowhammer, the sides of its head boldly streaked with black 

 on a whitish ground, and with cinnamon -coloured under parts. 

 It was evidently a Bunting, but not the Ortolan which I had long 

 looked for, and it was not till I had the opportunity of consulting 

 a book that I identified it as the Meadow Bunting, Emberiza cia. 

 There were probably half a dozen pairs of them about the screes 

 at the foot of the Lei, and they were common about the adjacent 

 vineyard slopes. On June 21st one of them was carrying food 

 in its bill. I watched a male singing for some time as he sat on 

 a rock in neglige Bunting attitude, flipping his tail in Bunting 

 fashion, and raising his head each time to sing ; but who would 



