FUETHEB NOTES FROM LLEYN. 143 



the bay. Dr. Dobie told me he heard a Grasshopper- Warbler 

 near Llanbedrog on the night of the 18th. I saw a Grey Wagtail 

 about the stream which runs through Aberdaron, which is, I 

 suppose, as far west in Carnarvonshire as the bird would be met 

 with in summer. It is only the second time I have met with it 

 in Lleyn. Stonechats were common ; but I saw no Whinchats 

 this year. Corn-Crakes were not quite so common as in the 

 previous year. The Blackbird is certainly remarkably abundant 

 in Lleyn, far more so than the Song-Thrush. I saw Mistle- 

 Thrushes several times, and heard one singing as late as the 

 22nd. Robins are tiresomely abundant in a place where you think 

 it your duty to put the glass on almost every small bird you see. 

 Possibly they do not migrate in autumn from this mild land, and 

 so do not suffer any losses on passage ; and of course there is no 

 hard weather to cut them off in the winter. I saw Goldfinches 

 again, and Spotted Flycatchers several times. Unfortunately 

 when I revisited the spot where I had found the Cirl-Bunting 

 the year before the rain was coming down heavily, and though I 

 lingered about for half an hour, I saw and heard nothing of it. 

 One evening as I was walking along Penrhyn Du, brilliantly lighted 

 up with cushions of gorse, blooming as it never blooms in bleak 

 Oxfordshire, I saw a beautiful adult male Merlin flying along the 

 slope just above the sea, and not far below me. As this cliff is 

 many miles from where I saw one the previous year, the Merlin 

 may be not very uncommon. I was glad to see Choughs (four 

 pairs) in their old haunts. Two pairs walking about on a steep 

 grassy slope, varied by gorse and heather, made up a picture to de- 

 light the eye of a naturalist. In the bright sunshine the glossy 

 purple-black of their plumage and their red beaks showed up 

 well against the green background. They were feeding and 

 occasionally preening their feathers. Choughs are very affection- 

 ate birds. The individuals of the respective pairs kept close 

 together, and I saw one pair fondling one another with their 

 bills. Every now and then one would call "k'chare" — a short 

 note. When feeding they pecked quickly at something among 

 the grass, apparently picking up insects ; or they poked their 

 bills into the ground or tufts of herbage. Several times while I 

 watched them, one flew up and perched on a low wall separating 

 the cliff from the fields, called "k'chare," and looked about it ; 



