274 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



peninsula of Italy ; while during the autumnal migration its flight is directed 

 eastward to India, which forms its winter quarters. It is enough to excite 

 one's wonder that individuals should be found in this country (and the same 

 may be said of Heligoland) in November, separated as they then are from 

 their rightful home by almost the whole length of Europe and half that of 

 Asia. A short notice of this occurrence may be seen in the second volume 

 of Dr. Butler's • British Birds,' p. ^92 (Addenda). — W. Ruskin Butter- 

 field (St. Leonards-on-Sea). 



Nesting of the Grey Wagtail in Lincolnshire.— I have been delighted 

 in watching a pair of Grey Wagtails, Motacilla melanope, Pallas, which, 

 mirabile dictu, have actually brought off a brood within three feet of my 

 library window. The nest, the exterior of which is composed of fine 

 grasses and roots, and lined with cow-hair, is five feet from the ground, iu 

 the wall-ivy. It was commenced the second week in March ; I dare not 

 look too closely to ascertain when the first egg was laid. The female 

 commenced sitting about April 25th. The young were hatched on May 

 9th, on which day both the parents commenced feeding them with insects 

 and their larvae. These Wagtails were first seen on Nov. 10th, and have 

 kept about the premises ever since. There are several spring-heads and 

 water-courses which they haunt, but none very near the house. It has 

 been a daily pleasure to watch these elegant and chastely coloured little 

 creatures, so suggestive of a north-country beck, running here and there on 

 the lawn, sometimes on the window-sill, or perched on a window-box or the 

 scraper of the side door. When I found they really intended nesting pre- 

 cautions were taken to prevent them being disturbed, and since the female 

 commenced to sit six worthless stray cats have disappeared without sub- 

 sequent enquiries as to their whereabouts. I was pleased (May 22nd) when 

 the young birds (I think four of them) left the nest, and strong enough to 

 fly to the house-roof and into an old beech-tree on the lawn. The old birds 

 used alternately to bring insects to the nest almost regularly every five 

 minutes, commencing, to my knowledge, at 4 a.m. and to 7.30 p.m. This 

 is the first occasion on which the Grey Wagtail has been recorded nesting 

 in Lincolnshire, and, as far as I am aware, in Eastern England south of the 

 Humber. It is, however, a most regular winter visitant. — John Cordeaux 

 (Great Cotes House, R.S.O., Lincoln). 



Arrival of Summer Migrants in Gloucestershire. — The following is a 

 list of some of our summer migrants, with the dates upon which I first 

 observed them in Gloucestershire (near Cheltenham): — ChifTchafT, March 

 25th ; Willow Wren, April 11th ; Redstart, April 14th ; Whitethroat, 

 April 13th; Swallow, April 13th; House Martin, April 14th; Blackcap, 

 April 16th; Lesser Whitethroat, April 18th; Cuckoo, April 19th; Sand 



