51 



THE REDSTART. 



Ruticilla phoenicurus (L.). 



A FEW stragglers apparently reached our shores during the 

 first tweh'^e days of Aprils but no large immigration took place 

 till the 16th. On that nioht a vast immigration o£ 14 

 different species was observed at St. Catherine's light, Isle of 

 Wight, when hundreds of Redstarts were seen and twenty 

 were killed. The wind was west and the sky overcast. The 

 following night somewhat similar observations were again 

 made at St, (Jatherine's light, also at the Owers light- 

 vessel (Sussex) and at Anvil Point light, in Dorset. The 

 immediate result of this great immigration was the appear- 

 ance of Redstarts on the 18th and 19th in Cambridgeshire^ 

 Staffordshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Shropshire, Notting- 

 hamshire and Radnor ; an increase was also noted in Sussex, 

 Hertfordshire and Berkshire. By the 22nd the birds had 

 extended as far ncrth as Cumberland and Northumberland. 



More migrants were noticed on the night of the 23rd/24th 

 of April at St. Catherine's light, and these perhaps accounted 

 for the arrival of the species in Glamorgan and Brecon 

 and for an increase in Radnor, on the western side, and 

 in Cambridgeshire, in the east. A migratory movement 

 along the east coast was indicated by the occurrence of 

 Redstarts at Winterton lighthouse (Norfolk) on the night of 

 the 24th/25th of April. 



A third period of immigration seems to have taken place 

 about the 2nd of May, on which date an increase was noticed 

 in Essex and Surrey, and on the following day in 

 Northamptonshire, Merioneth, Denbigh and Cumberland, 



A nest with three eggs was reported from Cambridgeshire 

 on the 5th of May, but no more were recorded till a nest 

 with eggs was found in Kent on the 19th of May. 



