140 The Irish Naturalist. Oct.-Nov., 



SOME NOTES ON BIRDS, ESPECIALLY THE 



WHITETHROAT. 



BY J. P. BURKITT. 



That some migrant birds return to the same neighbourhood 

 is commonly held in regard to Swallows, but the more I 

 study birds the more evident it is to me that individuals 

 of many species, if not of most, return to exactly the same 

 sites of previous years. In the more abundant species 

 this mieht be hard to verify, but I can see it in the cases 

 of Goldfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Redpoll, Whinchat, Nightjar, 

 Grasshopper Warbler, Garden Warbler, and Whitethroat, 

 specially clearly in tlie latter five cases. 



A pair of Whinchats were at a site for seven years, 

 until I let a man take the nest ; thereafter the place was 

 empty. The Nightjar, as I can corroborate, is known to 

 nest for several years in the exact same spot if undisturbed. 

 The Garden Warbler is unmistakable in returning to the 

 exact S])ot ; and I have frequently located a bird b}^ my 

 returning in the spring to where I had found an old nest 

 in the winter. A Grasshopper Warbler has come to the 

 same bush in a big waste scrub land for at least five years, 

 omitting last year. And I can sa}' just the same of other 

 sites of this bird, though not observed for so long. In one 

 case the same bush was occupied after a skip of two years. 



With the Whitethroat I shall deal below. From 

 observation of the last three species, I have come to realise 

 that the return of the same birds is marked not onty by 

 coming to a particular spot, but by coming at a regular 

 time, regularly late or regularly early. For example, with 

 these three species 1 will always at certain spots find the 

 tenant when no other of its kind has arrived, and at 

 other very late spots the tenant will not appear till up to 

 three weeks or more later. 



The Greater Whitethroat. 



A certain number of Whitethroats come to sites by 

 roads near me, but they appear to come in a regular order. 



