90 



be certain of the exact date of this immigration, but we know 

 that on April the 30th there was a very extensive movement 

 affecting this part of the south coast. The species chiefly 

 concerned were Willow-Warblers and Whitethroats, and it 

 may not be far from the truth if we assume that the Wood- 

 Warblers, which undoubtedly arrived about that date, also 

 formed part of this immigratory " rush." 



These birds halted for a day or two near their points of 

 arrival, and began to disperse about the 3rd and 4th of May. 

 They seem to have spread in a northerly and north-easterly 

 direction, reached StafFordsliire on the 4th, travelled thence 

 through Wales and Shropshire into Lancashire, West York- 

 shire, and Durham, and arrived in the last-named county by 

 the 8th. The more easterly birds do not seem to have gone 

 further than Surrey, Berkshire, and Hertford, but their 

 dispersal was evidently gradual, the numbers in each locality 

 rising day by day ; there was very little evidence of any 

 definite route being followed, or of any rapid migratory 

 stream, as was the case with many species. 



A seco7id laWly large immigration took place on the 9th of 

 May along the western half of the south coast from Hamp- 

 shire to Devon, and was supplemented by a further arrival 

 in Dorset on May the 12th. 



After the arrival of these birds the same gradual spreading 

 movement was apparent, the numbers mounting day by day 

 in each locality, and the line of distribution was again in a 

 north and north-easterly direction. It should be noticed too 

 that after the arrival of this immigration the number of the 

 more easterly residents increased rather more decidedly, and 

 the first records were received from East Sussex and Kent. 



After May the 14th or 15th the birds had evidently settled 

 down in their nesting-haunts, and the numbers showed very 

 little further fluctuation, while by the 23rd nests were reported 

 from as far north as Durham. 



There may have been another small immigration into 

 Hampshire on May the 25th, but from want of corroborative 

 evidence this must remain doubtful. 



