198 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vi. 



[It should perhaps be pointed out that my contention on page 333 

 of Volume IV. (April, 1911) was that the Crossbill in England and 

 Wales " cannot be cla.ssed as a resident, V)ut only as a migrant, 

 breeding sporadically." I was treating the matter broadly, having 

 in view the status of the bird in the whole of England and Wales. 

 By " breeding sporadically " I meant that it only bred here and there 

 at intervals, and was not a regular English breeding bird. So far 

 as the record.s went, it did not breed every year in England, and 

 it had never bred more than two years in succession in any one locality. 

 Mr. Bunyard has now proxed that the bird has bred for three j-eai-s 

 in succession in Suffolk. He feels " convinced that the Crossbill is 

 (and probably always has been) a firmly established English-breeding 

 bird " {supra p. 89). As to what it probably was, I can only judge 

 by the published facts which, as gi^•en in my paper in Volimie IV., 

 have not been disputed. Mr. Bunyard thinks that fewer birds nested 

 in 1912 in Suffolk than in 1910 and 1911, and I think it yet remains 

 to be seen whether the bird has now become really established there. 



The Hobby, Hawfinch and Grasshopper- Warbler seem to me to be 

 in a different category. They are without doubt regular English 

 breeding birds, and the fact that they breed irregularly in certain 

 localities does not affect their general status. 



It is important that we should not confase (1) the admission of a 

 species to a large area like England as part of its regular breeding- 

 range, with (2) local fluctuations of a species which is midoubtedly 

 a regular breeder within that area. — H. F. Witherby.] 



[I should imagine that it is a practical impossibility to say to 

 what cause isolated instances of breeding in new districts are due ; and 

 if sporadic breeding be taken to imply nomadic tendency or impulse 

 as opposed to natural increase of individuals or the other causes men- 

 tioned by Mr. Meares, it must remain a matter of opinion whether 

 any bird is described as a sporadic breeder or not. 



Mr. Meares brings definite proof that when suitable breeding-places 

 are available the Hobby will return to the same spot year after year 

 to breed. But there are many cases in which the nest of the previous 

 year proves to be tenanted by some other species, such as the Long- 

 eared Owl, and then the Hobby must seek a new home. There are 

 also places where it is only known to breed at long intervals. Although 

 some localities are always occupied by Grasshopper-Warblers in con- 

 siderable numbers, there are also other districts where this bird appears 

 only irregularly, and is absent for several years together. In one 

 locality in Derbyshire seven or eight paii-s were present within a radius 



