342 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



soon as they appeared." I also saw Wagtails on Sheep's Green 

 with " a distinct white eye-stripe and brown legs and feet, but 

 with head3 only faintly blue-grey. They are a trifle smaller 

 than the Yellow Wagtail, and in all respects except the blue 

 heads answer to the description of M. flava. And what is of 

 importance, these Wagtails certainly nested, although I cannot 

 see much difference between their eggs and those of M. campestris 

 or M. rail." 



I have only one record of the nesting of the Willow- Warbler 

 (Phylloscopus trochilus) on Sheep's Green. This nest was near 

 the bottom of a decayed tree, among the rubbish in the partly 

 hollow trunk : — " As the tree overhung one of the deep ponds the 

 nest was neither easy to see nor to get at with safety. The eggs 

 were much more decidedly spotted with red than those in the 

 nests found on the ground " in other places. I have also notes 

 of the occurrence of the nest of the Grasshopper-Warbler. 



"Brown Owls nest in the holes in the tops of the pollard 

 willows. . . . The handsomest birds are the Kingfishers, but 

 they are so persecuted by those who study natural history with a 

 shot-gun in hand that they get no chance to lay their eggs, &c. 



" The winter, or even late autumn or early spring, is the 

 best time for naturalizing in this spot. Many times then I have 

 had the Green all to myself, and could note down or sketch 

 numbers of birds not to be seen at other times. On several 

 occasions I have seen it flooded, and in its pristine state of a 

 mere or broad. Then the Wild Ducks and Geese came to it, 

 Teal swam about, the Wigeon was to be seen, and when the 

 water had nearly gone off there were Godwits, Curlews, and 

 Longshank birds." 



Besides the above, I mention the Green Sandpiper, and in 

 the spring the dun-barred Sandpiper or Dunlin, probably on 

 migration. Waterhens were then more likely to be seen than at 

 the season when the bathers and boaters scared them. Pied Wag- 

 tails were to be seen all the winter running about on the bank of 

 the river when the Green was a small broad, or the wet grass 

 when the floods had gone down a bit ; and among them would 

 be the dark-footed Grey Wagtail (Motacilla melanope), less 

 tolerant of being watched than is M. lugubris. 



There is a tract of what was formerly marsh-land lying 



