TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. — DEPT. ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. 591 



In Ireland the wheatear, chiff-chafF, cuckoo, willow-'warblei', and land-rail were 

 Teported as common ; the rinpr-ousel, sand-piper, sedge-warbler, and spotted fly- 

 catcher occur locally ; the parden-warhler ^ery scarce ; the black-cap two or three 

 occurrences ; the whinchat scarce, the redstart, Ray's wagtail, grasshopper- 

 warbler, rarely noted, while the nightingale, tree-pipit, lesser-whitethroat, pied 

 flycatcher, and wood-warbler were not recorded in Ireland. The swallow tribes 

 were numerous there. 



All the migrants in my list are found in the southern, and in most of the 

 eastern and western counties of England. The pied flj'catcher is exceptionally 

 rare ; it is recorded by Sterlaud and AVIiittaker in Notts, but rare ; one in Derby- 

 shire, one Leicestershire, one Kent, one Cornwall, a few in Dorset, Sussex, 

 and Norfolk. In this part of Yorkshire, of which Barnsle)' is the centre, it is 

 found at Wliarncliffe, Cannon Hall, and Wentworth Castle parks ; in AVharfdale, 

 Westmoreland, a few in North Yorkshire, rare about York. The nightingale, one 

 of the migrants not found in Ireland, rarely crosses the Welsh border, or those of 

 Devon and Cornwall. It occurs on all sides of Barnsley yearly, about Wakefield, 

 Leeds, Pontefract more rarely, and, according to Mr. J. Backhouse, specimens have 

 occasionally occurred near Yorlc. The grasshopper-warbler, scarce in some districts, 

 may be found pretty numerous in our South Yorkshire woods and hedgerows, 

 rich in tlie families of our spring warblers. 



An earlier date of cuckoo, seen and heard at 3Ielton-on-the-IIill, March 12, 

 was reported: 'we had no opportunity to test the statement. The cuckoo and 

 swallow seen by T. Dymond, Esq., and others at Burntwood Hall, March 19, we 

 can rely upon. We ha^•e ne^er known them before in this district in March. 

 There have been singular contrasts this season to former years. The two white- 

 throats, grasshopper-warbler, night-jar, spotted flycatclier, and whinchat were 

 seven or ten days before tlieir average time ; the wheatear, land-rail, pied 

 flycatcher and martin (as reported in this part), are about a week behind their 

 time. Tlie sprins: migrants, as noted in onr local excursions, and with some of 

 the ' Yorkshire Naturalist Union's ' rambles this season, have been observed in 

 considerable niunbers. The well-wooded tracts of South and West Yorkshire, 

 diversified with cidtivated lands, streams, and moorland hills, form favourable 

 haunts for our summer warblers. Other migrants, as ring-ousels, on our moors ; 

 reed-warblers among marshes and reedy pools ; sand-pipers, by moorland streams ; 

 and wliite wagtails scarce, have not had data regularly recorded. 



-S-^ T URDA r, AUG UST 26. 



The Bepartment did not meet. 



MONDAY, AUGUST 28. 



1. Report of tlie Committee for arranging for the occupation of a Table at 

 the Zoological Station at Naples. — See Reports, p. 288. 



2. Report of the Committee for aiding in the maintenance of the Scottish 

 Zoological Station. — See Reports, p. 282. 



3. Report on the Migration of Birds. — See Reports, p. 283. 



