51 



THE WHITETHROAT. 



Sylvia cinerea Bechst. 



The Whitethroat being one of those species which kills Itself 

 at the lighthouses in considerable numbers, the area o£ its 

 arrival in this country could be clearly defined, and included 

 the whole of the south coast from Devon to Kent. 



With the exception of a single bird, which was noted in 

 Dorset on the 29th of March, the earliest records were from 

 Somerset on the 7th and 8th of April. During the following 

 ten days a few stragglers were noted, chiefly in the south 

 and east, though solitary individuals appear to have wandered 

 to Shropshire and Lancashire. 



The Jirst large immigration arrived in Hants and Sussex 

 on the 18th of April and was apparently travelling in a 

 north to north-westerly direction, reaching Worcester and 

 Merioneth on the 19th and 20th, Oxford, Staffordshire and 

 Derby on the 23rd, Notts on the 24th, and Yorkshire on 

 the 27th. Further small bodies arrived in Hampshire 

 on the 22nd and 28th and followed in the track of those 

 preceding them ; while at the same time an increase was noted 

 in Suffolk and Essex, though evidence was lacking to show 

 whether the birds entered this country on the south or east. 

 A few also arrived in Devon on the 2nd of May, causing an 

 increase in the west on the two subsequent days. 



From the 4th to the 18th the birds were continually 

 arriving along the whole of the south coast ; the numbers 

 being heaviest on the Devon and Hampshire coasts on the 4th, 

 on the Sussex and Hampshire coasts on the 7th, on the Kent, 

 Hampshire, and Devon coasts on the 8th, in Sussex on the 

 9th, in Hampshire on the 10th and 11th, and in Devon and 

 Dorset on the 12th. 



