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NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF ANGLESEA. 

 By T. A. Coward & Charles Oldham. 



In the spring of 1904 we again* visited Anglesea, paying 

 special attention to the coast, which we worked from Carmel 

 Head, in the north-west of the island, to the western shore of the 

 Malldraeth Estuary. We made several excursions to the lakes 

 and marshes inland, and one of the writers spent a few days 

 near Beaumaris. Much of the country between Holyhead and 

 Bodorgan was well known to us, for during the past twenty years 

 we have on several occasions visited that district, but we also 

 broke a good deal of new ground. We again had the advantage 

 of Mr. S. G. Cummings's companionship, and have to thank him 

 once more for placing at our disposal the notes he had made on 

 previous visits to Western Anglesea. 



South of the high cliffs in the neighbourhood of Carmel 

 Head the coast is rocky and indented, but the cliffs are not of 

 sufficient height to afford nesting-places for Gulls, and the 

 boulder-strewn beaches of the shallow bays are unsuited for the 

 Ptinged Plover and Lesser Tern. Kestrels nest on these low 

 cliffs, and the Stock-Dove is abundant ; on June 2nd we counted 

 twenty-five Stock-Doves feeding with domestic Pigeons in a field 

 near Llanfwrog. At the mouth of the Piiver Alaw, however, 

 there is an extensive warren, where the dunes in spring are 

 spangled with the variegated flowers of Viola curtisii, and con- 

 siderable stretches of sandy beach. Here many Sheld-Ducks 

 breed among the sand-hills, and at low tide are scattered over 

 the mud-banks in the estuary and bay. On May 29th, when we 

 visited the place, the plaintive cries of Ptinged Plovers, which 

 nest in some numbers on the sandy shores, were to be heard 

 everywhere. At that date most of the birds had young, though 

 we saw one nest with four and another with a single egg. A 

 noisy Piedshank was apparently interested in a brood, but we 



* Gf. Zool. 1902, p. 401 ; 1904, p. 7. 



