Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/481

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NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF ANGLESEA.
411

of the island. The other species we noticed—Starling, Wheatear, Sky-Lark, and Meadow-Pipit—were all abundant on the adjacent mainland.

Away from the coast, on the gorse-covered commons, and where the outcrops of metamorphic rock defy the efforts and primitive methods of the Anglesea agriculturist, the Linnet and Stonechat were dominant birds. On Mynydd Llwydiarth, a rough hilly country overlooking Redwharf Bay, we noticed one or two pairs of Whinchats, a species which we only saw in one other locality. Snipe were drumming on these hills, and we met with others near Llangoed. The Nightjar, which was also here, appears to be a common species in Anglesea.

Many of the small stony pasture-fields are bounded by low bramble-grown turf walls, which provide abundant cover for Whitethroats, Blackbirds, and Yellowhammers. Here the Corn-Bunting, perched on the highest spray, uttered his grating but not unpleasing song; this bird, however, was by no means generally distributed, being nothing like so plentiful as in the north and west of Anglesea. The Snow-Bunting is probably not infrequent on the coast in hard weather; we saw a bird at Penmon which had been killed against the telegraph-wires in January, 1902. Throughout the inland district, as well as on the coast, the Cuckoo was fairly plentiful. We may here mention that on Nov. 10th, 1899, a female Yellow-billed Cuckoo was found dead on the shores of the Menai Straits at Craig-y-don, near Garth Ferry, during a westerly gale (Geo. Dickinson, 'Ibis,' January, 1900, p. 219).

We saw a good number of Mistle-Thrushes in the fields and about the smaller plantations, and near Penmon we picked up the shrivelled bodies of two Redwings. The old thorns in the Park had probably proved an attraction to this species in the hard weather in the previous February. Although we kept a constant look-out, we failed to meet with the Yellow Wagtail. The Pied was not uncommon, and the Grey was nesting in two places; a pair were feeding their young in the bed of a stream at Plas Newydd Park-gates on May 21st, and we several times saw another pair in a little dell between Menai and Garth Ferry. The twitter and trill of the Redpoll in flight attracted our attention everywhere; the bird was exceedingly abundant, not only