A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE the spot. On other occasions hobbies have been observed where the swallows gathered in the evening, but at no other time were so many seen at once. More frequently, only one, or perhaps two, have put in an appearance. What always seemed remarkable was that with so great a number of swallows captures were very infrequent. The latest note I have of the hobby waiting on the swallows is dated the 7th of September, 1893, when one appeared near the mill on the Avon at Harv- ington, where a small flight of swallows had gathered. Now, however, the latter bird has become too rare to attract the hobby. Lees records, on the authority of Mr. Edwards, a nest of a hobby at Mathon in 1868, and the latter gentleman favours me with a note re- cording that a nest with young was found at Eastnor in 1897. 107. Merlin. Falco asalon, Tunstall. The merlin is, strictly speaking, migratory with us, appearing in the autumn, winter, or very early spring. Years ago when the swallow was abundant the merlin as well as the hobby frequented the roosting places of that bird in the osier and reed beds. But the merlin did so very occasionally, being indeed but rarely seen so early in the autumn. November is the month when we most fre- quently see the merlin, about the time when the redwings make their appearance. Larks appear to be a favourite food of this little falcon, especially on the slopes of the hills. 108. Red-footed Falcon. Falco vespertinus, Linn. A bird of this species, which from its uni- formly dark colour was certainly an adult male, was seen and closely watched for some time by Mr. W. H. Baylies while busily engaged in hawking for cockchafFers in some large elms near his house in June, 1870. As Mr. Baylies is intimately acquainted with the hobby and the merlin, he can certainly assert that the bird he saw was not either of those birds, but, indeed, there can be no doubt from the colour as to the species. 109. Kestrel. Falco tinnunculus, Linn. A common and resident bird, locally known as the mouse-hawk, nesting generally in an old nest of a crow or magpie. During winter the kestrel usually retires to the same places to roost for some time, which is very often on some small branch growing out on the sheltered side of a large tree, quite close to the bole, beneath which the castings may be found in great quantity. They become dis- integrated by the rains of winter, and all are 160 then seen to be made up of the bones and fur of small mammals, with now and then the bones and feathers of a small bird, and the elytra of beetles. no. Osprey. Pandlon ha Hai'tus {h n.). According to Hastings, the osprey was, when he wrote, in 1834, one of the birds which were known to ' but very rarely occur,' and in a note he records it as ' once seen fly- ing over the River Teme.' I am unable to add anything to its history as a Worcester- shire bird, but I have a specimen which was shot in January, 1864, in the Avon, between the counties of Warwick and Gloucester, and only a short distance from the point where the stream comes into Worcestershire. I have the record of several which have been taken in the neighbouring county of Warwick. 111. Cormorant. Phalacrocorax carho (Linn.). Hastings says : ' The cormorant, Phalacro- corax carho, in time of floods often visits the interior of the country.' I can endorse that statement. It is also sometimes driven inland by storms and high winds ; all the specimens which I have seen have been in immature or in winter plumage. A few years ago one was found after a storm in the head of a pollard withy tree by the side of the Avon. 112. Shag or Green Cormorant. Phalacro- corax graculus (Linn.). Like the last species, and indeed like so many other sea birds, this is now usually a a storm-scattered wanderer, and seldom seen unless driven by wind and storm out of its proper habitats, or during a succession of floods ; but specimens are not very infre- quently found in a state of exhaustion. 113. Gannet or Solan Goose. Sula bassana (Linn.). ' This singular straggler was met with flying over an arable field at Alfrick, in this county, in the winter of 1833, and is now in our museum ' [Hastings, p. 70). A specimen in the Worcester Museum, which is in adult plumage, was taken at Norton, and an im- mature one in the same collection at Cleve- load-on-the-Severn, in the county of Wor- cester. On several occasions gannets have been found in a state of exhaustion in the neighbouring counties of Oxford, Gloucester and Warwick. Lundy Island is their nearest residence. A tropic bird, Phteton aethereus, it is said was picked up dead near Malvern in the fifties. It is believed on the Herefordshire side of the hill at Cradley.
