650 Birds. 



from the feeble song of both the nightingale and the willow-warblers, also an in- 

 dication, I think, of weariness. Now, although this was the first appearance of the 

 nightingale and of the willow-warbler, it was not so of the wheatear ; and on May 18 

 a male red-backed shrike was seen perched upon the identical apple-twig he was wont 

 to resort to last summer, and within three yards of which he reared his family : a pair 

 of fly-catchers returned to the same orchard, where they bred last year ; several swifts 

 were flying about; and as the shades of evening drew on, I cast a wistful look to the 

 window, in expectation of the night-jar. The east wind blew strong and cold, and I 

 could scarcely summon resolution enough to leave my fireside ; when lo ! (polite bird) 

 a female night-jar appeared, and dropped to take some quarry from very near the 

 ground, within half a dozen yards of the window. Now again, although this was the 

 earliest appearance of the shrike and of the night-jar, T had previously seen the fly- 

 catcher and the swift on the 5th, an unusually early appearance, by the way, of the 

 former. I have noted the appearance of the ring-ouzel, of the hoopoe, and of the green 

 sandpiper ; not intending thereby to imply that they are " common birds " with us, but 

 because I thought that you, or some of the readers of * The Zoologist,' might be inte- 

 rested in knowing that the first is a regular vernal and autumnal visitor ; because the 

 second is said to visit this country more frequently after Midsummer; and because, of 

 the movements of the third, very little appears to be certainly known. 



Pied Wagtail, March 16 Whinchat, Redstart, Yellow 



Chiff-chaff, 30 Wagtail & Whitethroat, April 17 



RingOuzel, April 5 Cuckoo, 23 



Wryneck, 7 Common Sandpiper, 27 



Swallow and Martin, 12 Green Sandpiper, Turtle Dove 



Hoopoe, 15 and Sedge Warbler May 1 



Nightingale, Willow-warbler, Swift and Spotted Fly-catcher 5 



and Blackcap, 16 Red-backed Shrike & Night-jar 18 



Chas. A. Bury ; Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, May 27, 1844. 



Enquiry as to the arrival of the Swallow $rc. Are not the swallow tribe unusually 

 late this year ? I heard of swallows appearing here about the 14th of April, but saw 

 none myself until the 22nd (if then, for I am rather doubtful whether the bird was a 

 swallow), and another on the 23rd, but the numbers increased very slowly. On the 

 1 st of May, very early in the morning, I heard martins for the first time above my bed- 

 room window, where they build. A solitary pond being the only temptation for these 

 birds to pause here, they may very probably be seen earlier further inland, unless by 

 any one who has a good opportunity of noticing their first arrival. — Arthur Hussey ; 

 Rottingdean, May 8, 1844. 



Note on the arrival of Summer Birds at Northchapel, near Petworth, in 1844. The 

 following are the dates of arrival of two or three of our summer birds, which I see you 

 are desirous of noting. 



Wryneck and Swallow April 2 Nightingale and Cuckoo, April 18 



Blackcap, 4 Martin, 23 



These are, I think, the earliest arrivals here this year. — William Peachey ; Northcha- 

 pel, near Petworth, May 24, 1844. 



Note of the arrival of Summer Birds at Kingsbury, Middlesex, in 1844. 

 Wheatear, Sylvia (Enanthe ... March 25 Willow-wren, Sylvia Trochilus April 6 



Chiffchaff, S. rufa, 29 Blackcap, Curruca atricapilla 8 



Wryneck, Yunx Torquilla, ... April 3 Garden warbler, C.hortensis,... 12 



