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THE THEE-PIPIT. 



Antlius trimalis (L.). 



The arrival of the Tree- Pipit was first reported in Hampshire 

 on the 2ud of April. During the first ten days of that 

 month the records referred chiefly to stragglers in the south- 

 eastern and midland counties. On the 12th they appeared 

 in Yorkshire^ the numbers increasing on the following day. 



Between the 15th and 20th of April there was evidently 

 an influx of immigrants, as was shown by the increased 

 numbers in Hampshire, Wiltshire and Kent, and by the great 

 increase in Sussex, where one observer recorded very large 

 numbers on the 18th ; three were killed at St. Catherine's 

 light, Isle of Wight, between the above named dates. After 

 this, an increase in numbers was noted in many localities, 

 and by the end of the month the Tree-Pipit had spread 

 all over the country. The usual numbers were recorded 

 in Devonshire on the 21st ; they reached Northumberland 

 on the 25th, and Westmoreland and Cumberland on the 

 27th and 28th respectively. Further arrivals took place 

 in Kent on the 23rd and 26th. 



By the end of the first week in May, Tree-Pipits were 

 apparently beginning to settle down in their nesting-haunts ; 

 but there were evidently further arrivals on the eastern 

 half of the south coast on the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th, while a 

 single bird, killed at St. Catherine's light on the night of the 

 13th/14th, showed that migration had not quite ceased. 

 Records of local movements also continued up to the third 

 week of that month. 



Tree-Pipits were observed nesting in Staffordshire on the 

 26th of April. Nests with eggs were found in Somerset on 

 the 7th of May, in Norfolk on the 9th, in Cheshire on the 

 15th, and in Kent and Wiltshire on the 19th and 20th. 



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