4G 



THE WHINCHAT. 



Prat'incola riihetra (L.). 



The ai'i'lval of this species took place later than usual in 

 1907, and the first record is that of a sino-le bird observed in 

 Dorset on the 5th of April. With the exception of a few 

 stragglers, it was not until the first week in ]\lay that the 

 Whinchat reached this conntrj in numbers. 



The first real immigration began about the 5th of May, 

 when the species was recorded from Somerset, Wilts, Sur- 

 rey, Middlesex, Kent, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincoln, Cardigan 

 and Merioneth. On the 7th it was noted at the Hampshire 

 lights, while many had reached Yorkshire, and during the 

 next three or four days it gradually increased in numbers all 

 over the country except in the north-west. Attention may 

 here be drawn to the record of a sino-le bird which was 

 seen at sea some distance south-west of Scilly on the 

 12th. It was probably a straguler, as the species usually 

 arrives in this country on the eastern portion of the south 

 coast. 



Another immigration was noted at the Hampshire and 

 Cornwall lights on the 15th of May, and a further immi- 

 gration took place in Hampshire and Kent on the 20th and 

 21st. The records, hovvever, do not enable us to trace these 

 movements any further. 



The first nest v.^as reported from Radnor on the 19th of 

 May, and another nest with eggs was found in Derbyshire 

 on the 21st. 



