170 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



BIRD NOTES FROM CHESHIRE DURING THE 

 WINTER OF 1902-1903. 



By T. A. Coward. 



In spite of the mildness of the weather in the winter of 1902- 

 1903 some interesting birds visited Cheshire, and possibly also 

 the absence of a prolonged frost accounted for the lengthy stay 

 of some of the more unusual visitors. It is not my intention in 

 this paper to give a diary of the winter months, but only to record 

 the occurrence of a few of the more noteworthy birds. The Knot 

 which was picked up at Bowdon on Oct. 24th has already been 

 mentioned in this paper (ante, 1902, p. 467), and the Pomatorhine 

 Skua and Gannet, which were obtained respectively at Saughall 

 and Queen's Ferry in October, were recorded by Mr. A. New- 

 stead ('Field/ Oct. 25th, 1902). 



For more than a week in the first half of October an immature 

 Cormorant frequented Redes Mere, a sheet of water over twenty 

 miles from the nearest tidal estuary ; and another, a little later, 

 was reported from Great Budworth. Early in the month a 

 Cormorant was shot on the Mersey near Warrington, but this is 

 not so unusual, for the bird not infrequently ascends the rivers 

 for some distance. 



A Bittern was observed on the margin of Budworth Mere at 

 the end of November, and was seen many times during the 

 following three months. It generally frequented a dense reed- 

 bed, but was observed in other places round the banks, often 

 crouching amongst the litter of dead reed-stems which marks the 

 highest point reached by the water. Amongst these brown 

 withered reeds its colouring rendered it inconspicuous. After 

 several unsuccessful searches I succeeded in flushing it from the 

 reed-bed ; it did not rise until I was about five yards away from 

 it, and then it flew with a loose heavy flight along the margin of 

 the mere, barely topping the reeds, its long green legs dangling 

 and its head only partially drawn back. A few days later Mr. 



