Amount of subscriptions (three years), £177 15s. 10d.

Report on First

Appearances of Birds, Insects, &c., and First Flowering of Plants

IN DORSET DURING 1909.

BY NELSON M. RICHARDSON, B.A.

THE names of those who have this year sent in returns are as follows; they are denoted in the report by initials:

(E. S. R.)

(W. H. D.)

(J. R.)

(N. M. R.) Nelson M. Richardson, Montevideo, near Weymouth.

(E. R. B.) Eustace R. Bankes, Norden, Corfe Castle.

E. S. Rodd, Chardstock House, Chard.

Rev. W. Hughes D'Aeth, Buckhorn Weston
Rectory, Wincanton.

Rev. J. Ridley, Pulham Rectory.

(G. R. P.)

(S. E. V. F.)

(E. F. L.)

(J. M. J. F.)

(E. E. W.)

Gerald R. Peck, Darenth, Parkstone. (Re-
moved to Muston Manor, Puddletown,
Dorchester.)

Rev. S. E. V. Filleul, All Saints' Rectory,
Dorchester.

Rev. E. F. Linton, Edmondsham Rectory,
Salisbury.

Rev. J. M. J. Fletcher, The Vicarage, Wim-
borne Minster.

Miss Ellen E. Woodhouse, Chilmore, Ansty,
Dorchester.

Single notes from other observers will be acknowledged under their records.

NOTES ON RARE AND OTHER BIRDS IN 1909.

HAWK (KESTREL-Falco tinnunculus, L.?).—A remarkable proof of the keenness of the hawk's vision happened on March 28th. I had placed a cocoanut quite close to my dining room window among wistaria branches, and filled it with fat for tits. On that day a hawk dashed on a tit, whose head was hidden in the nut, so that it could not see the danger. Only a part of the bird was visible, and that in shade, yet the hawk saw it from a distance and unerringly went for it. (J. R.) (PULHAM.)

PIED FLYCATCHER (Muscicapa atricapilla, L.).-I observed a pied flycatcher here on May 1st, 1909, which seems to be unusually early. It was hawking for flies from a tree close to the school and frequently alighted in the road; it also clung to the school wall and extracted insects from the crevices. I was soon joined by some passers-by, and we were able to watch the motions of this beautiful little bird for half-an-hour with great pleasure. I have only once previously observed

this bird in this locality.-(Rev. R. C. Maunsell, Symondsbury Rectory, Bridport.)

THRUSH (Turdus musicus, L.).-An old nest in a pear tree was used for the third time by a thrush.. (J. R.) (PULHAM.)

SNOW BUNTING (Plectrophanes nivalis, L.).-In "British Birds,” iii., 262 (January 1st, 1910), Captain M. W. Portman records the fact that a specimen was secured on the edge of Poole Harbour in October, 1908. The precise spot is near Arne, in the Isle of Purbeck. Captain Portman concludes his note with the remark " I cannot find any record of a snow bunting in Dorset since 1846 (Mansel-Pleydell)," but, in a note subsequently sent to the same magazine, I pointed out that, in his "Birds of Dorsetshire," p. 41 (1888), the only years specified by the late Mr. J. C. Mansel-Pleydell are 1844, 1868, and 1869, and that in Proc. Dors. N. H. and A. F. Club, XVII., 199 (1896), he put on record the additional fact that a snow bunting was shot at Kimmeridge, which is in the Isle of Purbeck, on November 29th, 1895. (E. R. B.)

A snow bunting was killed on the Chesil Beach on October 23rd, 1910, and brought to me. I have also a note of one killed in the same place on November 2nd, 1891, and brought also for my inspection. I do not think this has yet been recorded. (N. M. R.)

BRAMBLING (Fringilla montifringilla, L.).-Four specimens came to feed on some crumbs in the town of Corfe Castle during the very severe frost, accompanied by heavy snow, at the beginning of January. I fortunately had the opportunity of identifying them. (E. R. B.)

SISKIN (Carduelis spinus, L.).-One seen at Pulham on August 26th. (J. R.)

CUCKOO (Cuculus canorus, L.). - In the Dorset County Chronicle of December 9th, 1909, Mr. James Day, in a note