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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



AVES. 

 Notes from Sussex. — Owing to an abundance of hornbeam-seed, 

 I had expected a fairly good arrival of Hawfinches, and they began 

 to appear during the latter part of November, increasing the follow- 

 ing month, the largest number seen by me at one time being twenty- 

 one, on December 17th. As usual, a few passed the nesting season 

 in the district, and some young were successfully reared. A shortage 

 in alder-seed was responsible for the small number of Lesser Red- 

 polls which spent the winter here, but the spring arrival of nesting 

 birds was about the same, possibly rather more ; indeed, I have 

 never known a spring during which single Redpolls so often came 

 under my notice, though it is doubtful if more nested than usual. 

 A little party of Siskins (Carduelis spinus) paid me a visit on 

 January 18th, and some of them continued to come into the garden 

 throughout February and the first fortnight in March, but I was 

 certainly astonished at seeing two there on May 6th — a Siskin has 

 never before been seen by me in May. Rather fewer Redwings spent 

 the winter here than is generally the case, and I did not see a Field- 

 fare until February 24th, when we were having snow. This is not a 

 Fieldfare district, but during a spell of heavy snow these birds will 

 suddenly appear and invade the woods and shrubberies in large 

 numbers. A small flight, south-westerly, of Fieldfares, together with 

 Mistle-Thrushes and Lapwings, occurred on February 26th, 27th, 

 and 28th, and a few Black-headed Gulls (Larus ridibundus) appeared. 

 However, such Fieldfares as passed through the district on migration 

 two months later were in no great hurry to leave us, and some were 

 here as late as May 2nd. I saw very little of the Brambling at any 

 time during the winter. On March 25th there was a beautiful Great 

 Grey Shrike [Lanius excubitor) in Busted Park, only the second 

 authentically seen by me during a period of some sixteen years' 

 residence. One was seen by me in Maresfield Park, January 5th, 

 1912. Of our summer migrants the Nightingale cannot be said to 

 have been other than poorly represented ; I do not think more than 

 six or seven were located by me, but there has been a slight increase 

 in the numbers of the Wood-Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), the 

 House-Martin (Chelidon urbica), and the Turtle Dove {Turtur com- 

 munis), whilst most of the others have been here at about the 

 average, and the Red-backed Shrike {Lanius collurio) has been better 



