NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF ANGLE SEA. 403 



was strewn with broken twigs and torn leaves and catkins that 

 the birds had dropped in their orgie. 



Of the Tits, the Blue was undoubtedly the most abundant, 

 though the Great Tit was by no means rare. We saw Coal- Tits 

 feeding young in three different places, but the bird was not 

 common, and we did not meet with either the Marsh or the 

 Long-tailed Tit. The Creeper has the reputation of being a shy 

 singer, and when the trees are in leaf is easily overlooked ; but, 

 from the number of times on which we heard the song in many 

 different localities, the bird must be very plentiful. The Tree- 

 Pipit, like the Redstart, was unaccountably rare ; we saw a pair 

 in a wood at Holland Arms, heard three or four in song be- 

 tween Llanfair and Menai, and one at Llangoed, but none else- 

 where. The Chaffinch and Greenfinch swarmed in the woods 

 and in the cultivated district beyond ; the Bullfinch was fairly 

 numerous, but we only met with the Goldfinch in one locality — 

 near Menai Bridge, where a pair frequented an orchard. In this 

 part of Anglesea the Jay and Magpie, if they occur at all, must 

 be very rare, for we did not meet with either species. 



The neighbourhood of the old Priory at Penmon, in the 

 extreme east of the island, proved to be an exceedingly inter- 

 esting district. Just behind the ruins of the Priory is a little 

 dell, where many ancient ashes, alders, thorns, and elders, 

 together with the Spanish chestnuts and walnuts in the Priory 

 grounds, provide shelter for numerous birds. In the tree-tops 

 was a small colony of Rooks, while the hollow limbs of the older 

 trees were tenanted by Jackdaws and Tawny Owls. In mid-May 

 the latter bird was much in evidence, enlivening the night with 

 its musical call ; but during a second visit — in the first week 

 of June — it was silent. We . did not come across the Tawny 

 Owl elsewhere, nor did we personally observe the Barn-Owl, but 

 a quarryman at Penmon had a stuffed example which had been 

 captured in a disused boiler a few months before. The Green 

 Woodpecker, which we only met with sparingly in the larger 

 woods, was astoundingly abundant in the neighbourhood of 

 Penmon. The rotten timber of the old trees was riddled with 

 nesting-holes, and even the smaller branches were pitted with 

 the bird's borings. The Woodpeckers were not restricted to this 

 isolated clump of trees where they nested ; we used frequently to 



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