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THE CHIFFCHAFF. 



Plujlloscopus rufus (Bechst.). 



The Chiffchaff arrived along the whole of the south coast, 

 but mainly on the western half. 



A number appear to have spent the winter in these islands 

 and were recorded from widely separated localities in 

 January, February, and the early part of March. Some 

 early migrants may have arrived during the first ten days 

 of March, but owing to the presence of the winter-residents 

 referred to it was not possible to be certain. Chiffchaff s 

 however, occurred at the lights in the Channel Islands and 

 the Isle of Wight on the night of the 12th, and it is there- 

 fore safer to date the commencement of the spring-migration 

 from these certain records. The first immigration seems to 

 have been confined to the western half of the south coast and 

 to have lasted from the 13th to the loth ; it was followed by 

 a supplementary eastern invasion on the 19th. The birds 

 comprising these two movements seem to have scattered 

 over the southern half of the country, from Suffolk in the 

 east to Pembrokeshire in the west. 



After the 19th of March a series of small immigrations 

 arrived at intervals of a day or two, viz., on the 22nd, 25th 

 and 28th, at different points on the south coast between Devon- 

 shire and Sussex. These were followed by a more extensive 

 movement on the 30th, when considerable numbers arrived 

 on the whole length of that coast. Small immigrations took 

 place at various points during the next seven days, but the 

 advance northwards seems to have been rather slow, mainly 

 perhaps because the number of birds in the country was 

 small. It was not until the arrival of the large migration 



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