46 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



of the autumn immigrants do not push on into this mild soft 

 western land, which does very well for such birds as Blackbirds 

 and Chaffinches. But they seem rather to prefer the hardships 

 of the winter in the eastern counties and the midlands ; and, 

 instead of Lleyn filling up with migrants, it was, as far as I 

 could see, almost depleted of some of the so-called resident 

 species which are common enough there in summer. 



The knowledge of the winter avifauna of a district that one 

 gets in a fortnight is, of course, not of any very great value ; 

 but at the same time it is certainly quite possible to gain a 

 generally correct impression of it by devoting the whole of the 

 time to the pursuit, and covering as much ground as possible 

 (chiefly on foot, of course) ; for birds in winter are given to 

 favouring certain limited areas, and deserting others. 



Peregkine Falcon. — A male at the Bird Eock on Feb. 12th, 

 flying about in front of the rock, and occasionally settling. As 

 he flew he cried " quayk quayk quayk quayk," as in spring. 

 Mr. Caton Haigh saw Peregrines at Llanbedrog Head in March. 



Merlin. — When I was on Llanbedrog Head on the 11th a 

 rather dark male Merlin sailed out from below, and went over 

 the sands, the tide being low, twisting about low down. Perhaps 

 he was trying to rouse a Dunlin, but he did not frighten the 

 Wigeon, Gulls, and Curlews which were scattered about. He 

 must have come back, for later on, when I was half-way down 

 the sheltered side, he came over the top close to me with a shrill 

 cry or two. He darted along the side of the headland, and 

 perched on a dead ivy-branch, where he looked very pretty, 

 backed by some green on the cliff-side. 



Kestrel. — Must winter in Lleyn in some numbers, as I saw 

 it on five occasions, and it seems a little early for migrants to 

 have returned, though this is of course possible. On Feb. 1st, 

 about 5 p.m. of a cold and rather stormy day, with storms of 

 hard snow in the afternoon, I was standing at my window facing 

 the sea, when I noticed a big bird fly to and apparently settle 

 (out of sight) on a house to the right. I thought it was a belated 

 Jackdaw, but in a minute it wheeled down, and settled on my 

 window-sill, and I saw it was an old male Kestrel in perfect 

 plumage. Thinking it might be a tame bird, I opened the 



