99 



THE YELLOW WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla rail (Bonap.). 



The Yellow Wagtail seems to have arrived along the 

 south coast, ;is far west as Devonshire, hut the largest 

 numbers were reported on the eastern half. 



Early stragglers were recorded from the south-eastern 

 counties between the 29th of March and the 6th of April, 

 and from other counties, farther north and west, up to the 

 middle of the month. A passing flock was seen in Somerset- 

 shire on the 12th, which had presumably arrived about that 

 date, but the first marked immigration seems to have landed 

 on the greater part of the south coast between the 16th and 

 21st. A large number of these birds appear to have passed 

 through the western Midlands to southern Wales and York- 

 shire, while stragglers reached the south-west cf Scotland on 

 the 22nd and 23rd. There is no evidence that those on the 

 eastern side travelled farther north than Suffolk. 



A second immigration arrived, mainly on the eastern por- 

 tion of the south coast, between the 22nd and 26th of April, 

 and were noted at the Channel Islands on the 25th. This 

 movement included a large proportion of the breeding-birds 

 of the eastern counties as far north as Yorkshire. 



Further immigrations seem to have occurred at the end of 

 April and during the first few days of May, but their 

 course through the country was not indicated clearly by 

 the records. 



Yellow Wagtails were reported to be nesting in Cheshire 

 and Cumberland on the 7th of May, a nest was found in 

 Yorkshire on the 11th, and others with eggs in Suffolk on 

 the 14th, in Somersetshire on the loth and in Kent on the 

 16th. 



