93 



THE SEDGE-WARBLEK. 



Acrocephalus phragmitis (Bechst.) . 



By reason of the somewhat local distribution of tin- species, 

 the records of its arrival and dispersal are neither very full 

 nor possibly very reliable. It undoubtedly arrived at points 

 along the whole of the south coast, but perhaps in greatest 

 numbers on the eastern half. 



The first few records were from Hampshire between the 

 7th and 11th of April, otherwise the majority of the earlier 

 ones came from the south-eastern counties. Jt is difficult 

 to say when and where the birds landed, but by the 24th a 

 number had evidently come in and were thinly distributed 

 over a wide area extending as far north as Norfolk, Cam- 

 bridgeshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, while stragglers had 

 reached Cumberland in the north and Carmarthenshire in 

 the west. On the night of the 21th migrants also occurred 

 at Spurn Head light evidently on their way north. 



The first immigration of which we have any exact know- 

 ledge occurred on the last-named night and was recorded 

 from the Channel Islands and Isle of Wight lights, where 

 Sedge- Warblers were seen in large numbers. They were 

 first recorded from Sussex and Kent on the two following- 

 days and increased numbers were noticed in Surrey and 

 Wiltshire. Large numbers again occurred at these two 

 lights on the night of the 28th and a few at the Caskets on 

 the night of the 30th, while further arrivals Mere recorded 

 in Kent on the 28th. With the advent of these migrants a 

 good many places in the area already occupied were filled up. 

 Lincolnshire and Yorkshire were reached on the eastern side, 

 and on the west the birds penetrated into North Wales and 

 ranged into Cumberland and beyond the Solway Firth, the 



