230 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



hundreds. The weather was warm, and it seemed that migration was 

 proceeding northwards along the river. As might be expected, Tits 

 were most abundant in the woods. We saw vast numbers of Acre- 

 dula caudata, and Parus major, ater, palustris, and caruleus, but no 

 Crested Tits, though they are said to be found. Nuthatches were not 

 uncommon. I saw a few Wrens. Wherever there were streams there 

 were White Wagtails (Motacilla alba). These are, of course, sum- 

 mer migrants, but had arrived in thousands, and were all, it seemed, 

 paired. Whether they were still moving northwards I had unfortu- 

 nately no means of discovering. I saw at some distance one pair of 

 yellowish birds which appeared to be M. melanope, but I did not 

 satisfactorily identify them. Greenfinches were tolerably abundant, 

 and we saw a few flocks of Goldfinches. The House- Sparrow was 

 strangely uncommon. We saw very few, and only, occasionally, 

 actually in villages. On the other hand, there were numbers of the 

 more delicately formed and attractive Tree-Sparrows in the old apple- 

 trees by the roadsides. I noted a few Linnets at one spot ; also a 

 single female Bullfinch. Yellow Buntings were plentiful every- 

 where, and in the Main Valley, where there are some small reed-beds, 

 a few pairs of Keed-Buntings were to be seen. Starlings were 

 exceedingly abundant. In the forest there were large numbers of 

 Jays, but Magpies, which are so conspicuous in most parts of North 

 Germany, were absent. On the other hand, in four days I saw more 

 Carrion-Crows than, I think, I had seen in all my previous life. There 

 were thousands of them both in the forest and in the cultivated places. 

 They were all Corvus corone, and we saw no Hooded Crows among 

 them. Some were in pairs, but the majority in flocks of two hundred 

 to three hundred. The only birds that were more plentiful than 

 Crows were Chaffinches, of which we saw enormous flocks. Sky- 

 Larks were much less numerous than in the flat plains of North 

 Germany. 



Before daylight one morning I recognized the unmistakable song 

 of the Crested Lark, and saw several on the waste land outside the 

 railway station at Hanau. This was the only place where I saw any. 

 The song is sweetly modulated but short and is uttered on the wing, 

 and also, as often as not, when the bird is perched on a roof. 

 Buzzards (Buteo vulgaris) seem to be tolerably plentiful in the district. 

 I am told that they are regarded as harmless, and are protected in 

 Germany. We saw several each day and heard their familiar squeals. 

 On the 27th we saw two Kites playing and swooping over the river 

 just outside the small town of Wertheim. Whilst so engaged, one 



