NOTES FROM MID-HANTS. 463 



May. 



On the 1st I saw the first Swift at Winton, and Mr. Nutt 

 reported Meadow Pipits in water-meads. On the 3rd Swifts 

 positively swarmed near St. Catherine's Hill, flying low, and 

 uttering their cries. Up to the middle of this month, which has 

 been bitterly cold, Swallows, Swifts, and Martins must have been 

 suffering from want of food. I have never seen such numbers of 

 them before flying, vainly for the most part, over the Itchen near 

 the town. 



On the 4th I found a clutch of six Wheatear's eggs, hard-set, 

 on a warren (Longwood) four miles east of the town. This is an 

 early date. I saw two Stone Curlews also there on this date, 

 and Mr. Nutt reported these birds at Farley Mount, nort-east of 

 Winton. On the 5th I saw Willow Wrens at Compton Gorse, 

 and heard what was very likely a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. 

 This little copse abounds in Nightingales, which were keeping 

 up a lovely chorus when I visited it on the 8th. On the 10th 

 Mr. Kelsall reports, " Wood Wren and Tree Pipit ; Nightjar and 

 Shrike reported." On this date Reed Buntings had eggs in 

 water-meads (hatched on 12th), and I found a clutch of five 

 Moorhen's eggs at Fishers Pond. I picked up a young Coot of 

 the year on the bank, which seemed quite helpless, and had 

 evidently been neglected by its parents. This bird breeds in 

 fair numbers every year there, and I have March 15th, 1890, as 

 the earliest record of its laying. It migrates partially to the 

 coast in winter. 



In the middle of the month a pair of Nuthatches, which have 

 built in the same tree in the college meads for three years, had 

 eggs. On the 12th a Stone Curlew's egg was brought me from a 

 boy who had picked it up in " a hollow " near Chilcombe, three 

 miles from the town. He said it was the only one, but how far 

 he may be trusted is uncertain. It was quite hard-set. This 

 egg is rarely found, though the birds breed here every year in 

 small numbers. Two eggs were taken last year on May 6th, after 

 a most persevering hunt, by Mr. Ensor. On this date (12th) a 

 Carrion Crow's nest was found at Oliver's Battery, a mile from 

 the town, with young birds in it. On the 15th a Willow Wren's 

 nest was found with six eggs in it, and on this date five Haw- 

 finch's eggs were taken in a wood two miles from the town. At 



