NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF ANGLESEA. 227 



Quail in a field of oats at Aberffraw. On the following morning, 

 in the early hours, one was calling near Ehos Neigr, and later 

 in the day we heard a third at Llanfaelog. After the 6th the 

 weather was sunless and cold, and we heard no others ; but 

 Mr. F. Brownsword tells us that on June 24th he heard one 

 calling near Llanerchymedd. The Land-Bail is abundant here 

 as elsewhere in Anglesea, but perhaps not quite so plentiful as 

 in the eastern portions. On Sept. 29th, 1904, Mr. Cummings 

 flushed a Water-Bail from the edge of the Crugyll, and later 

 found it crouching in a grass -grown ditch. Towards the end of 

 October, 1904, a Spotted Crake was shot near Valley by a friend 

 of Mr. Martin Wood, who saw the bird and told us of the 

 occurrence. 



The many lakes of Western Anglesea — some of them more 

 than half a mile across — have an important bearing on the avi- 

 fauna ; Ducks of various species are more abundant in this part 

 of the island than elsewhere. Some of these llyns are fringed 

 with beds of reeds and a large Scirpus, and are more or less 

 choked with aquatic vegetation. From the bare stony beds of 

 others little islets rise, favourite resting places for Cormorants, 

 which come to fish in the shallow waters. The Sandpiper nests on 

 all the llyns ; the Sky- Larks here reproduce the Sandpiper's notes 

 in their songs, as those upon the sand-dunes introduce the call of 

 the Binged Plover. Near some of the lakes are extensive bogs, 

 resplendent in early June with the yellow flowers of the iris. 

 Snipe abound in such places — Common Snipe at all times, and 

 Jack- Snipe in the autumn ; Coots and Moorhens frequent the 

 llyns. On one water we had between fifty and sixty Coots in 

 sight at once, and we could not see the whole of the water, nor 

 take into consideration the numbers which with their broods 

 were concealed in the rushes. Where there are no reeds round 

 the lakes the Coots make their nests — often in exposed situations 

 — of the green Scirpus stems, on which the eggs are very con- 

 spicuous ; the protective value of the clay colour spotted with 

 black which assimilates so closely to dead fungus-speckled reeds 

 is entirely lost. 



Drake Mallards may be seen on all the lakes in spring in 

 parties of two or three to upwards of a dozen, while in the 

 rushes the ducks tend their broods. The Teal is plentiful in the 



