188 THE BIRDS OF CORNWALL. 



Redbreast ; resident ; abundant tliroughout the county ; 

 flocks of 3^oung birds been seen at times congregating in 

 the autumn on the south coast, as if on the point of emigrating; 

 breeds throughout Europe and north-western Africa. 



Whitethroat ; a summer migrant wintering in northern 

 Africa ; unevenly distributed throughout the county ; jDarticu- 

 larly fond of thick ]T.edg(?s ; arrives with various other warblers 

 about the middle of Aj^ril, first seen last year on April 10th ; 

 unusually abundant at Nance, Truro, in September, 1900 ; an 

 autumn migrant in Scilly. 



Lesser Whitethroat, a rare casual autimm visitor, fairly 

 abundant in the soutli- eastern counties of England as a summer 

 migrant ; has been obtained once at Scilly in the autumn of 1857 ; 

 other county records doubtful. 



Blackcap ; a summer migrant, wintering south of the 

 Mediterranean ; very local in Cornwall, though not uncommon in 

 the east of the county ; breeds as far west as Lostwithiel ; further 

 west is of rare occurrence ; in Scilly an autumn migrant ; the 

 principal arrival of this bird is about the middle of AjDril, but it 

 has been seen at Calstock as early as the 20th of March ; shyest 

 of the warblers. 



Garden Warbler ; a summer migrant wintering as far south 

 as Cape Colony, and reaching us about the end of April ; prob- 

 ably breeds annually in the east, but except round Falmouth, is 

 rare in the rest of the county, including Scilly ; a nest with eggs 

 found at St. Mawes, Aug. 16th, 1897. On September 27th, 1900, 

 a small flock of garden warblers, evidently on migration, but 

 driven back by stress of weather, was observed in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Truro, where it rested for two days. 



Dartford Warbler ; this resident and essentially non- 

 migratory bird was in the late seventies fairly common in the 

 Land's End district, and bred throughout the county. The severe 

 winters of 1880-81 and 1886-87 seem to have exterminated it 

 both in Cornwall and Devon, and there appears to be no further 

 Cornish record of it until the summer of 1899, when it was seen 

 at Hayle ; since then has twice been recorded near Truro ; 

 breeds locally in France, the Spanish peninsula, Italy and 

 northern Africa, 



