NOTES FROM MID-HANTS. 461 



February. 

 On the 4th the Common Gulls left suddenly and for good, 

 save for one short visit, which lasted only a few hours, on the 

 morning of the 25th, when five or six were wheeling at a great 

 height above water-meads. The Pied Wagtails are diminished 

 in numbers ; the Grey Wagtails are only occasionally seen during 

 the middle of the month. On the 9th there were seven or eight 

 Dabchicks on the Itchen near the College and another party 

 further down by Shawford. On the 20th the first inward migra- 

 tion of Peewits began, a company of fifty or so flying west in a 

 long line on that date, and another on the 25th. On the 2nd a 

 Brent Goose was shot at Medstead, and on the 15th I saw three 

 Geese, which I suspected to be Brent, flying at a considerable 

 height over water-meads. On the 18th a Great Spotted Wood- 

 pecker was shot at Sparsholt and sent to Mr. Chalkley to be set up. 

 On the 23rd the Books first began to collect twigs for repairing 

 their nests ; they were very quarrelsome, and one bird was killed 

 in a scuffle and fell down dying into meads. On the 24th I saw 

 a company of about two hundred Wood Pigeons in a ploughed 

 field bordering a wood at Whitchurch. Both species of Wag- 

 tail decreased steadily in numbers as the month progressed ; 

 during the whole winter neither species has been so numerous as 

 as in former years- Mr. Kelsall writes from the New Forest, 

 " A pair of Wheatears, Feb. 27th." This is the earliest record 



I know. 



March. 



On the 1st a few Common Gulls came with a strong south 

 wind to stay for a few hours in the morning, on the 4th and 6th ; 

 one Gull stayed through the greater part of the morning. On the 

 22nd Peewits were in abundance on Twyford Downs, probably 

 with nests ; in fact, on the 21st, several clutches were found in 

 a ploughed field to the north of this spot. It is very curious how 

 persistently this bird is persecuted and with what persistence it 

 propagates its kind so successfully. On the 22nd I saw the 

 Wheatear, male, for the first time this year, in water-meads. On 

 the 24th a solitary Herring Gull was battling with a strong south 

 wind above St. Catherine's Hill. The Dabchicks leave us about 

 now, and are never seen so high up the river during the rest of 

 the year* This fact applies to all our winter visitants in the 



