NOVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXIV. 1917. 13 



It may now be observed from the above statistics that, during a period 

 lasting forty-one years, namely, from May 8th, 1875, when the first bird was 

 obtained, to May 16th, 1916, when the latest to date was obtained, thirteen 

 examples have been recorded, which, with the exception of one, have all been 

 handled and identified beyond doubt. Nine of the twelve authentic records, 

 that is to say three-fourths, come from England ; two, or one-sixth, from Scot- 

 land ; and one, or one-twelfth, from Ireland. 



STATUS OF THE WESTERIT BLACE-EABED WHEATEAB AS A 



BRITISH BIRD. 



During latter years this Wheatear has been more frequently recorded than 

 formerly, and though it may be correct to regard it still a rare bird, obviously 

 it is less so than was supposed. As I have already pointed out when framing 

 the status of other rare British birds — e.g. Aquatic and Icterine Warblers * — 

 the study of ornithology has found much favour of late, and many more workers 

 have made a special study of migration, not only on the mainland but at light- 

 stations buUt on rocks and islands some mUes ofE the coast, and situated so as 

 to lie along and often to intersect important migration-routes. Added is the 

 valuable co-operation and increasing vigilance of the light-keepers ; the result 

 is that the number of records of heretofore supposed very rare birds has markedly 

 increased, and in many cases the status of species calls for revision. 



It requires but a passing glance at the synoptical table (C) to find 

 that while twenty-seven years elapsed between the capture of the first and 

 ■second birds, i.e. May 8th, 1875, to May 28th, 1902, from the latter date 

 onward this Wheatear has been recorded almost annually, and in some seasons 

 even in the plural number. Most specimens have been taken in Sussex, 

 due no doubt largely to the fact that this county possesses keen observers ; 

 albeit there is every reason to think that this Southern European Wheatear, 

 in affecting its normal vernal migration-range, may betimes somewhat slightly 

 overshoot the mark and arrive on the coasts of other British maritime southern 

 counties. Unlike the Icterine and Aquatic Warbler, which normally push 

 far enough north to breed in latitudes on the Continent corresponding to — 

 and in the case of the Icterine Warbler, even beyond — those of our Isles, the 

 northern limit of the vernal migration-range of the Western Black-eared Wheatear 

 is said to be limited by the River Loire in France. With this more restricted 

 breeding-range the species could hardly be expected to visit the higher latitudes 

 of the British Isles with any degree of regularity. It may be safer to regard 

 its visits to Yorkshire, Lancashire, and in a far greater degree to St. Kilda and 

 Fair Isle, as quite exceptional. This is borne out by the fact that Mr. Eagle 

 Clarke has only obtained it once from these Scottish islands, a contrast to the 

 visits of the Icterine Warbler to Fair Isle, where it " occurred annually on the 

 island during recent years in spring or autumn or both." f 



The visit of the Western Black-eared Wheatear to Tuskar Rock is not 

 altogether surprising. The situation of this station lies along the line of the 



* Vide papers on "Aquatic and Icterine Warblera obtained on Tuskar Rock," Zoologist, March 

 1915, pp. 82-92, and iUd. February 191G, pp. 41-54. 



t " Notes on the Migratory Birds observed at Fair Isle in 1914," ScoUiah Naturalist, May 1915, 

 p. 104. 



