THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 7 



Ringmoor, in 1888. Mr. Gatcombc occaslonall)' 

 observed stragglers near Plynioiitli on their first 

 arrival, and once had reason to suppose that a pair 

 nested in his district. About Broadclyst it is 

 plentiful ; I often watch it flitting in and out of our 

 hedgerows, and have heard its sweet song prolonged 

 far into the night. 



BLACK REDSTART.— 7?/^//r///r^ tliyf^, (Scop.) 



A WINTER visitant in sparing numbers to S. Devon, 

 of occasional occurrence inland and on the North 

 coast, but chiefly met with in certain favourite 

 localities on the Southern coast, between November 

 and March. Bellamy recorded it in 1889, as a 

 winter visitant, under the title of Sylvia eritJiacus 

 the Red-tailed Warbler, on the strength of six 

 specimens shot at Devonport, in November, (Nat. 

 Hist, of Devon, p. 205j ; a decision soon con- 

 firmed by the Rev. W. S. Hore, who stated in 1844, 

 that examples had frequented the neighbourhood of 

 Devonport for the previous five winters, and that a 

 score of specimens have been procured between 

 November 1848, and February 1844 (Zool. 1844. 

 23. p. 495-496). Mr. Hore pointed out that immature 

 birds formed the bulk of these immigrants, that they 

 arrived in November, that though absent during 

 summer, yet they returned to the same localities 

 annually, their stay being limited to three or four 

 months. He remarked on the shyness of the Black 

 Redstart in winter, an experience confirmed at the 



