BLACK REDSTART 35 



lu the Birds of East Kent Mr. G. Dowker says the 

 Eedstart is "moderately common, scarce of late, which 

 used to be called the Common Eedstart. I find it now 

 anything but common. True, it may be met with in 

 some localities in tolerable abundance ; in the more 

 secluded parts, for instance, of the chalk district, where 

 hedgerows of wild dogwood and guelder rose, entwined 

 with woodbine and clematis, form its sheltering bower. 

 But here, where I ofttimes met with the beautiful little 

 bird, it is now found no more, and even in its favourite 

 localities it is getting scarce." And Mr. W. Prentis, in 

 his Birds of Bainham, states that the " Eedstart once 

 was common in our orchards, coming the second and 

 third week in April, and it breeds in the old boundary 

 stumps." In the Bulletin of the B.O.C., 1906, Mr. 

 W. B. Ogilvie-Grant, on the " Immigrations in the 

 Spring of 1905," tells us that " Three distinct immigra- 

 tions may be noted, of the Eedstart, the first and most 

 important of which took place between April 9 and 12, 

 along the south coast, from Dorset to Kent. These 

 birds moved on rapidly to the north and north-west, so 

 that by the 15th there were but few left in the south. 

 On April 21 the second arrivals. On April 27 and 28 

 the third movement, which extended from Hampshire 

 to Kent, was reported from the lighthouses." 



BLACK EEDSTAET. 



Buticilla titijs (Scopoli). Ann. I. Hist.-nat., 

 p. 157 (1769;. 



Although the Black Eedstart was at one time looked 

 upon as one of our rarest visitors, it appears to be more 

 plentiful of late years than formerl3\ The particulars 



