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NATURE NOTES FROM A BATH-CHAIR. 
NE often liears of the “arm-chair naturalist,” but 
possibly the following notes taken from a Bath-chair 
may show how even an invalid may enjoy Nature. 
On May 4, we went to stay at that most comfort- 
able hotel at Trefriw, North Wales, known as the “ Belle Vue.” 
For a naturalist it is an ideal spot ; with the river and broad 
valley immediately in front, and the hills and woods at the back, 
one gets an endless variety of scenery and subjects. There 
must be a great many more birds to be noted by those who are 
able to ramble through the woods and over the mountains, but 
my list shows, at any rate, what may be seen from the hotel and 
along the roads in a Bath-chair, with the aid of a good field glass. 
I have divided the list into two classes ; first, those actually 
seen, and second, those only heard, but whose calls or songs are 
perfectly familiar. 
The first day, May 5, yielded goldfinch, chaffinch, greenfinch, 
house sparrow, starling, blackbird, thrush, mistle thrush, great 
tit, blue tit, jackdaw, rook, carrion crow, wood pigeon, chiff 
chaff, swallow, martin, blackcap warbler, robin, swift, wren, 
pied wagtail, grey (Af. mdanope) or yellow (A/, raii) wagtail 
(impossible to be certain which, at the distance), spotted 
flycatcher, one of the gulls, ring dotterel — seen ; and the follow- 
ing, grasshopper warbler, corncrake, pheasant, green woodpecker 
and cuckoo — heard. The calls or songs of the above are too 
distinctive to be mistaken, so that, though not actually seen, I 
may fairly lay claim to include them : — thirty-one, all told, for the 
first day, to which must be added, for subsequent days, black 
cormorant, a regular visitor from the coast ; siskins, water hens, 
dunnock, yellow-hammer, lapwing, wheatear, stonechat, and 
garden warbler; and the following — either tree pipit {A. trivialis), 
or wood lark {Alauda arborea), whitethroat (S. cinerea), or lesser 
whitethroat ( 5 . cuvyiua), and marsh {A. paliistris) or sedge (A. 
phmgmitis) warbler, impossible at the distance to say which. 
Other birds I have noted on former visits, which I have 
omitted from this list, and there are more I have only caught 
glimpses of as they flew past, including some of the waders, 
such as stints, dunlins, &c., but they were away too soon to be 
recognised. Owls also may be heard hooting at night. How- 
ever, for a fortnight a total of forty-three is not a bad record 
under the circumstances. 
When confined to the hotel there is a grand old ash tree 
covered with ivy, which affords endless entertainment, and in 
whose branches I have seen, almost every day, the following 
birds, several of which I suspect have nests : sparrow, starling, 
blackbird, thrush, mistle-thrush, greenfinch, chaffinch, goldfinch, 
great tit, blue tit, spotted flycatcher, wood pigeon, wren, jack- 
daw', grey or yellow wagtail and even two swallows. 
