REDBREAST. 95 



country?" Wlietlier some portion of our robins how- 

 ever, do or do not, proceed southward during the winter 

 months, I can see no reason for supposing (as alleged 

 by certain writers), that such an exodus would be confined 

 to the females, a fact, which only a " slaughter of the 

 innocents," owing to the similarity of plumage in the 

 two sexes, could satisfactorily determine. Of the mi- 

 gratory habits of this species on the Continent there is 

 no doubt, and the following passage with reference to 

 this fact appeared in a very interesting paper in the 

 '' Ibis" for 1864, by Lieut. Sperling, on the ornithology 

 of the Mediterranean :^ — " The Robin (he says), I 

 am certain, migrates regularly, for I have very fre- 

 qently met them at a long distance from the land; 

 besides which an ornithological friend of mine re- 

 cords it as a regular passenger through Malta." The 

 same writer also, speaking of the redbreast as found 

 in Santa Maura and Greece, describes it as, ''more 

 plentiful during the winter than the summer," and 

 adds — " This bird is, I believe, not supposed to migrate. 

 If this be the case, how is it that they are so frequently 

 met with at sea — just in the migratory season?" 

 In the same volume also (p. 413), my friend Mr. Swin- 

 hoe, Vice-Consul of Formosa, in recording his ornitho- 

 logical observations during the overland route to China in. 

 October, 1863, remarks — " Between Marseilles and Malta, 

 when eighty miles from the latter place, the weather 

 being calm, two male Sparrows (Passer domesticus) , and 

 two Eobins (Erithacus ruhecula), came on board the 

 steamer and stayed a short time ; they were evidently on 

 their passage across from Europe to the African coast." 

 Anecdotes are not wanting in this county, as throughout 

 the kingdom, of strange situations chosen by these 



* " Some account of an Ornithologist's Cruise in the Mediter- 

 ranean." By Lieut. R. M. Sperling, E.N., " Ibis," 1864, p. 268. 



