NOTES AND QUERIES.
AVES.
The Whinchat in Co. Dublin.—I have long been anxious to make the acquaintance of the Whinchat (Pratincola rubetra) in Ireland; yet, although I frequently visited what I thought were suitable localities, I was never fortunate enough to do so until June 9th last. I will not, for obvious reasons, specify the locality in which I met my long-sought friend; sufficient to say that it was about twelve miles distant from the Irish metropolis, and that there, on the day I have mentioned, I was delighted to hear the familiar "u-tick" which I heard last in the Rhone Valley. With my glass I perceived that there were four Whinchats in the field; the male was flitting from bush to bush singing gaily, whilst the female seemed to be employed in feeding one of two young ones by her side. On the 11th I returned with my son Ambrose, when we got quite near the birds, which were far from being shy. My friend Mr. Edward Williams, naturalist, tells me that a few years ago he observed Whinchats in the very same locality.—Charles W. Benson (Rathmines School, Dublin).
The Marsh Warbler in Oxfordshire.—Last year I published no account of the Marsh Warblers (Acrocephalus palustris) which have now for seven successive summers occupied an old osier-bed in this neighbourhood; my last communication to 'The Zoologist' was in August, 1896 (p. 286). In 1897 they had arrived by June 4th, sang vociferously for about ten days, and then quieted down as usual when the nest was being built. There were beyond doubt two pairs. I was away till well into July, and when I returned they were still in the osiers with their young; there they remained till the 22nd, when I lost sight of them. This year my observations have been, I think, sufficiently interesting for publication. The day on which I first heard them was again June 4th; I had already heard the bird near Abbeville in France on May 28th, but have never yet heard it in England till the first week in June. On the 10th the osiers were alive with the brilliant singing of at least two or three males, in a space about half an acre in extent. The Sedge Warblers seemed entirely outdone, and the listener could regale himself with the strains of the rarer species undisturbed by any other songs. On the 20th, after some careful watching, I found a nest with five eggs almost in the exact spot where I first found
