70 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Cirl-Bunting (Emberiza cirlus) in Somerset. — While reading an 

 article, by Mr. 0. V. Aplin, on the distribution of the Cirl-Bunting 

 in Great Britain, in ' The Zoologist ' for 1892, I was interested in a 

 note on that bird from one of his correspondents, the Kev. Murray 

 A. Mathew. On p. 176 these words are quoted from one of the latter 

 gentleman's letters: — "I never once met with it during the seven 

 years I resided at Weston-super-Mare." On referring to a Clerical 

 Directory it seems that those years were 1863-1869, and it may 

 be interesting to note that since that time this species has become 

 well established in the district. My own notes on this species in the 

 Weston-super-Mare district extend over the years 1898-1904, and 

 during that time I have noticed that the species is by no means un- 

 common, and in certain parts almost abundant. Early in the year I 

 have seen them in small parties foraging for seeds with Yellow Bunt- 

 ings, Larks, and other small birds. The earliest date on which I have 

 a note of having heard the song is March 19th, and the latest August 

 7th. The species may be met with sparingly all round Weston in the 

 breeding season, but their numbers seem to increase as one travels 

 south of that town towards Bridgwater, and I have found the species 

 more numerous in the neighbourhoods of Bleadon, Brent Knoll, and 

 on the western slopes of the Polden Hills. On July 6th last year, 

 while riding from Weston to Highbridge, I heard numbers of these 

 birds singing by the roadside, and in one locality near East Brent 

 four or five might be heard singing at the same time. The song is 

 very characteristic, and when once learnt need never be confused with 

 that of the Yellow Bunting. The singer is usually concealed amongst 

 the higher branches of a hedgerow-elm. Colonel Montagu received 

 specimens of this bird from Bridgwater a hundred years ago, and its 

 extension of range must have been very slow if it is true that some 

 seventy years later it had not reached as far as Weston-super-Mare. — 

 F. L. Blathwayt (Lincoln). 



Black-tailed Godwit in Norfolk. — On Jan. 11th I obtained, at a 

 game-dealer's shop in Bury, in almost complete winter plumage, a 

 female Limosa belgica, which was hanging up with two or three Red- 

 shanks, and had been consigned from Lynn. Though once a regular 

 breeder in East Anglia, it is now a rather rare visitor, especially in winter, 

 and I was glad to get this specimen, much as I could have wished it 

 had come into my hands before being gibbeted on a substantial hook, 

 thrust in at the chin and out at the base of the upper mandible. How- 

 ever, it was very clean and fairly fresh, so it has turned out into quite 

 a presentable specimen. The only occasion on which I ever saw this 



