33 



THE WHEATEAR. 



SaMCola osnanthe (L.). 



The first stragglers, mostly single birds and all recorded 

 us males, were reported from Sussex on the btli of March, 

 Kent on the 9th, Cornwall on the llth^ and Hampshire on 

 the 12th. By the 14th they had reached Somerset, and on 

 the 16th they were recorded from Norfolk. 



The first definite wave of immigration seems to have 

 occm'red in the early morning of March the 17th, and to have 

 extended along the centre of the south coast from Dorset 

 to Sussex. The birds passed slowly northwards and were 

 recorded from as far north as Yorkshire on the 22nd, and 

 from Wales on the 23rd. A second small wave, which also 

 passed northwards, was noticed in Hampshire on the 20th, 

 and in Devon and Coi'nwall on the following day. 



A second immigration took place in Devon on the 25th, and 

 was followed by an increase in Somerset on the following 

 day. The course of this flight could be traced due north, 

 being noted at Derby on the 26th, N. Wales on the 27th, 

 Lancashire on the 28th, Durham on the 29th, the Isle of 

 Man on the 1st of April, and in Dumfriesshire on the 4th. 



A third immigration, of great magnitude, took place between 

 the 29th of March and the 2nd of April, the birds arriving 

 in large numbers along the whole of the south coast, from 

 Devon to Kent, but more especially along the western half. 

 These birds could be easily traced northwards through the 

 country, and reached Northumberland and E. Yorkshire on 

 the 7th of April, while on the same day some appear to have 

 left the Norfolk coast and to have been observed at the Outer 

 Dowsing light-vessel. 



A fourth immigration, consisting mostly of hen birds, 



