266 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
first had been heard on May 4th, 1897. By walking quietly forwards a 
clear view was obtained of two of the birds perched on a small bush that 
was still bare of foliage, and as far as it was possible to be certain without 
having them actually in hand, Hypolais polyglotta, the Melodious Warbler, 
was satisfactorily identified. The morning of May 9th another visit was 
paid to the wooded undercliff. It was warm and summer-like after a night 
of rain, just the time for Warblers to be in full song; and as the result of 
a two hours’ ramble at least a dozen of these little Warblers were recog- 
nized. In one beautiful glen, carpeted with bluebells aud ground-ivy, five 
Melodious Warblers and a Nightingale were singing close round me, and 
as I stood listening to them another Melodious Warbler flew into a bush at 
my elbow, and commenced its song. The presence of so many of the birds 
makes it conclusive that those heard last year successfully nested ; Hypolais 
polyglotta may now be regarded to have established itself as a summer 
migrant to this extreme south-east corner of Devon. It was impossible to 
avoid reflecting that, as so many of these Warblers had been detected in a 
comparatively small portion of the wooded undercliff, there were probably 
many others in the long stretch of similar cover between Ware and 
Axmouth; and that possibly the shrubberies of the old-fashioned country 
houses that skirt the little town of Lyme were tenanted by others. Last 
year the loud clear notes of the two Warblers then heard induced the belief 
that they were the Icterine Warbler (Hypolais icterina); no close view of 
them was obtained; one seen flying across a little glade was too distant for 
its plumage to be ascertained. ‘The thickness of the cover—it is a jungle 
of big whitethorns, brambles, &c.—will afford the birds protection ; there is 
little fear that they will suffer from the raids of egg-collectors.—_ Murray A. 
Martuew (Vicarage, Buckland Dinham, Frome). 
Meadow Pipits perching on Trees.—I can quite confirm Mr. Coburn’s 
note as to the arboreal habits of the Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis). The 
bird is exceedingly common in this district in summer, and also passes 
through in great numbers at the periods of migration. In my experience 
the Meadow Pipit, when flushed, usually perches on a tree or bush if one 
is at hand. I have frequently seen migratory flocks of thirty or forty birds 
perching together on the tops of alder trees on a neighbouring marsh.— 
G. H. Caron Hateu (Penrhyndeudraeth, Merionethshire, North Wales). 
“ Horse-match,” a Name for the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius col- 
lurio).—I notice (ante, p. 188) Mr. O. V. Aplin has written a very in- 
teresting note on this curious local name. It will no doubt interest him to 
know that in the course of my preparation for my shortly forthcoming book 
on the ‘ Birds of Surrey’ I have come across this term applied to the same 
species in a series of hitherto unpublished notes by the late Mr. H. Long, 
