34 



arrived on the Hampsliire and Dorset coasts on the (Jth of 

 April, and followed in the track of the preceding one. 

 After the passing of this immigration there was a perceptible 

 fallino- off in the number of birds recorded from the southern 

 counties, those left being merely the resident breeding-stock. 



There seems to be but little doubt that the two last men- 

 tioned immigrations consisted chiefly of our own stock of 

 breeding-birds, as after April the 9th Wheatears were re- 

 corded as being present in their usual numbers in several 

 counties. On April 13th a nest was found in Devonshire, 

 on the 15th nests were ready for eggs in Cambridgeshire, 

 numbers were observed building in Norfolk on the IGth, and 

 in Lancashire on the 20th, while as far north as Durham 

 they were mating on the 16th and eggs were found there 

 on the 28tb. 



Ajifih immigration, consisting almost entirely of the larger 

 race, arrived along the western half of our southern coast 

 between the 9th and 13th of April. The birds proceeded 

 due north through Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire, and Cum- 

 berland. 



A sixth laroe and continuous immio-ration commenced on 

 the 1st of April with a great influx of birds arriving on the 

 western half of the south coast from Devon to Sussex, 

 though stragglers struck the coast as far east as Kent. 

 Further, large arrivals took place on the 19th and 20th 

 along the whole of the south coast, but those on the west 

 were the greater, and from that date till the end of the month 

 a steady stream of birds continued to arrive in larger or 

 smaller numbers ; the largest immigrations taking place in 

 Hampshire on the 24th and 25th, and in Devon on the 28th. 

 The earlier n.rrivals of this immigration remained for a few 

 days in the south, and it was not until the 27th that a north- 

 ward movement in any numbers was continued ; on this date, 

 however, an increase was noted in Somerset, and on the 

 following day in Kadnor and Essex, while some left the 

 country by the Norfolk coast. By the 30th the western wing 

 of this immigration had left Wales and was recorded from 

 the Isle of Man, and there Avas a noticeable decrease in Sussex 



