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THE SPOTTED FLYCA'rCUER {Musckapa ffvisola). 



In some localities Spotted FlycatcLers began to move soutb at the 

 beginning of August and by the end of that month the movement had 

 become general. During the first week the local residents in Cardigan 

 had all departed ; those of N. Staffordshire were last seen on the 15th 

 and 16th, and likewise those of Radnor and Hertfordshire on the 25th and 

 28th. One was taken at the Isle of May Light (Fife) on the 14th, while a 

 proportion of the birds in W. Kent left during the last week of the 

 month and a deciease was noted in E. Sussex on the 31st. Single birds 

 were observed passing along the Norfolk coast on the 16th. This 

 crowding down towards tlie south was reflected in the records of 

 increases in Berkshire on the 19th and in S. Devon from the 17th to the 

 29th. Moreover, small parties were noted passing to the south-east on 

 Hayling Island (Hants) on the 28th and again on the 31st, while the 

 fact of single birds occurring at St. Catheriue's Light on the 27tb/28th 

 indicated that emigration from our shores had actually begun. The birds 

 in S. Devonshire left on the following night. 



During September the southward movement and emigration continued 

 actively up to about the 19th and then in a rapidly waning stream until 

 the 26th. It would appear from the light-station returns tliat after the 

 first few days of the month emigration from the south coast took place 

 almost entirely to the west of the Isle of Wight, and this singular fact is 

 absolutely corroborated by the records of our inland observers ; the last 

 of the local residents left the south-eastern counties during the first five 

 days of the month, and birds were passing through Hayling Island, on 

 the Hampshire and Sussex border, in large numbers from the 1st to 

 the 3rd, though none were seen after. There were no records of any 

 arrivals on the east coast (the species was not mentioned amongst the 

 numerous migrants arriving on the NorfoUv coast during that month) and 

 the southward coasting movement was of a very straggling character, 

 the numbers concerned iu it being very small. Thus, single birds were 

 seen on the Isle of May on the 18th and 26th, on the south coast of 

 Yorkshire on the 16th, 17th and 25th and on the 2nd and 6th of 

 October ; small numbers of migrants were seen passing in Suffolk on the 

 ]8th, 20th and 21st, in Bedfordshire on the 20th, iu Berkshire on the 

 13th, in W. Kent on the 8th, 16th and 19th, and in Sussex on the 7th 

 and 9th. In the extreme east of Kent the records, as might have been 

 expected, were more continuous and small numbers were noted passing 

 dfiily up to the 2st. 



In the north and west the last birds were noted in Northumberland on 

 the 5th, in Cumberland on the 15th, the west of Yorkshire and Shrop- 

 shire on the 17th, in S. Staffordshire on the 19th, while between those 

 dates there was evidence of the passage of considerable numbers of birds 



