103 



THE YELLOW WAGTAIL.. 



Motacilla rail (Bonap.). 



Omitting a few early records of scattered birds, the first 

 immigration of this species arrived on the 7th of April on 

 the eastern part of the south coast and extended as far west as 

 Hampshire. The birds seem to have spread northwards and 

 westwards, reaching Wilts on the date of their arrival, Essex 

 on the following day, Somerset, Staffordshire, Derby, Cheshire, 

 and Norfolk on the 9th, Denbigh and Yorkshire on the 11th 

 and 12th, Lancashire on the 14th, and Durham on the 17th. 



The second immigration took place on the Norfolk coast 

 on the 13th and 14th ; and may be traced through Cambridge, 

 Berks, and Derby on the 14th, 15th, and 16th, Radnor on 

 the 17th, and Yorkshire on the 21st. 



The third immigration occurred along the south coast from 

 Hants to Kent between the 19th and 22nd of April, but the 

 birds appear to have become merged amongst those already 

 in the country, and could only be traced to Oxford on the 

 21st, and to Glamorgan and Essex on the 23rd. 



K fourth immigration landed along the whole of the south 

 coast from Devon to Kent on the 27th of April, passed 

 into Somerset, Oxford, Essex, and Norfolk on the 30th, and 

 reached Derby and Stafford on May the 6th, but could not 

 be traced further. 



There seems to be little doubt, as far as Kent is concerned, 

 that this last immigration consisted chiefly of females, which, 

 previous to the 27th, were very scarce in the south-east, 

 for though nests and eggs were recorded from Denbigh and 

 Somerset on the 23rd and 24th of April, no nesting-records 

 were sent in from Kent and Sussex before the 8th and 14th 

 of May. 



