42 



the most part to have travelled north along the east and west 

 coast-lines to the northern comities, the Isle of Man, and 

 Scotland ; from the midland counties of England but little 

 movement was reported. From the 8th to the 15th of April 

 Wheatears occurred nightly in some numbers at the Caskets 

 light, but arrivals were only recorded on the south coast on 

 the 8th, 10th, 11th, 11th, 16th and 18th. There is little 

 evidence of the route taken by these birds, but there are 

 indications that a good many passed north by way of the 

 west coast. Some of those, however, that arrived on the 

 eastern half of the south coast on the 14th and 16th seem to 

 have passed through the eastern half of the kingdom. 



On the 13th of April the larger race of the "Wheatear was 

 reported for the first time at the lights in the Channel Islands 

 and the Isle of Wight, and at the former on the following 

 night ; and it seems probable that a considerable pro- 

 portion of the arrivals at the latter end of this movement 

 were passage-migi*ants of the larger race. 



Subsequently a good many birds of the smaller race arrived 

 on the eastern half of the south coast on the 28th of April 

 and a few on the 5th of May, but on each occasion they 

 were accompanied by birds of the larger race. All appear 

 to have been passage-migrants and to have travelled north 

 mainly by the east and west coast-routes. Between the 

 25th and 30th of April and the 5th and 12th of May 

 continuous passages of the larger race, in unusually large 

 numbers during the first period, were observed at the 

 Caskets, while arrivals were recorded on a few occasions on 

 our south coast. These birds seem to have travelled mainly 

 by the coastal routes, though there were several scattered 

 records of birds passing through inland counties. 



By the beginning of April some of the earlier arrivals had 

 settled down in our southern counties, and eggs were found 

 in Somersetshire on the 26th and in Suffolk on the 29th. 

 Wheatears were also reported as nesting in Kent on the 5th 

 of May, in Derbyshire on the 7th, and eggs were found in 

 Renfrewshire on the 15th. 



