350 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Blackbirds, I have never seen a Blackbird eat a snail. This negative 

 evidence is, I admit, only of value according to what rny opportunities 

 may have been ; on this point I may say that my room, in the window 

 of which I read and write, and have done so continuously almost for 

 the last thirty-five years, looks out upon a lawn, flower garden, and 

 shrubbery, where both Thrushes and Blackbirds abound. On the 

 gravel-walk every season has revealed the Thrushes' sacrificial stones, 

 on which I have frequently seen and heard the usual process of pre- 

 paring the snail for food by the Thrush, but never by the Blackbird. 

 I will mention, in conclusion, one short episode, enacted before me 

 some little time ago, and in which both birds were concerned. A 

 Thrush had duly prepared its snail, when a Blackbird flew from the 

 adjoining bushes, bowled over the Thrush, and hopped away with the 

 snail in its bill ; the Thrush meanwhile looking on quietly at a few 

 feet distance. After pecking about the snail for a few minutes, the 

 Blackbird dropped it and disappeared, on which the Thrush simply 

 hopped up, resumed, and devoured its snail. This is still only nega- 

 tive evidence, but certainly it seems to me that it is of a higher order 

 than any as yet given. — 0. Pickard- Cambridge (Bloxworth Kectory). 



Distribution of the Corn-Bunting in Wales. — From the experience 

 gained in the last thirty years during many summer trips to various 

 parts of Wales, I think there is little doubt that the distribution of the 

 Corn-Bunting (Emberiza miliaria) as a summer resident in the Princi- 

 pality is very peculiar. It seems to be confined, at that season, almost 

 entirely to the belt of country adjoining the sea, where I have found 

 it common nearly everywhere, provided the land is cultivated, but 

 have been unable to identify it at a greater distance than a mile and a 

 half from the sea except in one locality, when I found, in- July, 1887, 

 two birds singing on Handley's Farm, near Brecon. This Bunting is 

 an easy bird to identify, indulging as it does in a great deal of " bird 

 music " of an unmistakable kind, but I have been unable to make it 

 out again inland. It occurs abundantly in the nesting season in the 

 following localities : — About the corn-lands to the west of Langland 

 Bay (Glamorgan) ; in the seaside fields about Towyn ; along the coast 

 between Barmouth and Harlech ; also round Criccieth and Pwllheli 

 (Carnarvon). It is fairly common in summer about Aberystwyth and 

 Clarach Valley ; in Anglesea between Menai Bridge and Beaumaris, 

 and round Llandudno. Why it should prefer this strip of country 

 and neglect the fine stretches of inland cornfields, it is difficult to say. 

 Some other species, such as the Nightjar, Bed-backed Shrike, and 

 Stonechat, are also commoner near the west coast than inland. — 

 E. A. Swainson (Woodside, Brecon). 



