60 NOTE ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF CORNWALL. 



same day the first Hoopoe was obtained from the grounds of 

 Clowance, in our eastern district. As these birds always appear in 

 larger or smaller numbers every spring with us, it may be well to 

 note the earliest arrival. Cuckoos, AYillow Wrens and White 

 Throats have not reported themselves. Garden Warblers, Lesser 

 White Throats, Wood Wrens, Eeed Wrens, Nightingales and Red 

 Starts do not visit our western shore." 



Note on the Spring Migration of the British JVarUers. 



The arrival of our summer visitors with their welcome spring 

 notes and songs always suggests the query where they actually 

 come from ; I mean those that visit the British Isles and rear 

 their young there during the summer. This thought is now again 

 suggested by my friend Mr. T. S. Bolitho, who, a few weeks since, 

 in his tour through Italy, wrote me that Nightingales, Blackcaps, 

 Garden Warblers, Willow Wrens and others are all in full vigorous 

 song, and fill the groves with their melody. The question naturally 

 arises how is it that these birds are singing in Italy, and what 

 business have they to be so far south at this season, as it is 

 generally understood that the great vernal migration draws away 

 the family of our migratorial warblers from the south to the 

 northern European countries to breed, to return again at the great 

 autumnal migration to the southern countries of Europe to avoid 

 the rigours of our northern climate in winter ? The question 

 which seems to arise therefore, is, whether this polar (or from 

 south to north) migration in the spring is ge^ieral or ^xirtial, — 

 some birds choosing to stay where they are, whilst others migrate ; 

 or, whether these birds in Italy in the spring and in full song are 

 migrants from a still lower range of latitude, such as the northern 

 and central parts of Africa, and are satisfied with their limited 

 trip to Italy only, without going farther north, in the same way as 

 those from Italy and the south of Europe (the limit of their 

 southern migration in the autumn) aspire to a higher range, and 

 thus visit us. 



EDWD. HEAELE EODD. 



PenzaucG, May 15th, 1874. 



