Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/188

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162
THE ZOOLOGIST.

Parus major and P. cæruleus.—Occasionally seen.

Troglodytes parvulus.—About gardens, several times.

Motacilla alba.—Saw a few. In the Botanical Garden was the only adult female, so far as I could judge, that I saw in Belgium. It had the crown sooty mixed with grey.

*M. melanope.—To my great surprise, I saw a black-throated Grey Wagtail sitting on a bare twig over a piece of water in the Botanical Garden. A tidal creek, or branch of the Dyle, bounds the garden on one side.

Anthus trivialis.—Seemed fairly common about wayside poplars.

Oriolus galbula.—I heard the note in a wood near the Château Rubens. One bird (and I think another also) was singing in the thickest parts of the tall trees which stand round the Botanical Garden. I moved it more than once, and at last got the glass on a male as it flew out. It is far from a conspicuous bird when seen against a background of fresh green, and moreover it is loth to leave the thick foliage. Its sweet rich "lit-a-vool" or "lit-a-vool-ee" was, I think, followed by some low chattering notes, heard only on two occasions, when I was just under the place where I thought the bird was sitting; but I could never see it when it was perched.

Lanius collurio.—One male.

*Muscicapa grisola.—Several about the Botanical Garden.

Hirundo rustica.—In fair numbers.

Chelidon urbica.—A few only compared with some places.

Passer domesticus.—Not conspicuously abundant.

P. montanus.—Saw a good many. Some seen about pollard trees, and several times dusting by the roadside. Apparently rather a common bird in Belgium.

Fringilla cœlebs.—About gardens and wayside trees.

Emberiza citrinella.—Fairly common by the roadsides. Some males were very bright, as at Dinant also.

E. shœniclus.—Several along the high banks of the tidal Dyle; also about reeds in the grass marshes, and along a canal.

Sturnus vulgaris.—Common about grass marshes, &c. Some were in flocks; others inhabited St. Rombaut's great tower. Seen in Antwerp.

Pica rustica.—Several times seen by the wayside.