171 



THE BLACK REDSTART. 



Phcenicura tithys, Linn, (sp.) 

 Motacilla „ „ 



Sylvia „ Lath. 



Has in a few instances been obtained. 



The first specimen recorded as met with in Great Britain, was pro- 

 cured near London in October, 1829, since which period a few 

 others have been procured in different parts of the south of Eng- 

 land. But so early as the year 1818, Mr. R. Ball saw the species 

 about Youghal; in the autumn of that year and the few following 

 autumns (in four different years), ten altogether were seen. In 

 one season — 1818 ? — five were killed: of which, unfortunately, all 

 that now remains is one badly preserved specimen. Since the 

 period alluded to, a redstart was taken in a corn-store at Youghal, 

 and in May, 1837, one was seen in a garden within the town, but 

 whether these also were P. tithys cannot now be ascertained. 



A black redstart, shot near Wexford, in February, 1836, came 

 into the possession of Dr. Burkitt of Waterford. As a steam- 

 boat was proceeding from Glasgow to Belfast, on the 5th of 

 November, 1841, a female bird flew on board when the vessel was 

 about mid-way between the two ports ; the day was remarkably 

 fine and the wind southerly. This bird, which was in excellent 

 condition, came into my possession on the following day :* it was 

 probably migrating from Scotland, but the P. tithys has not been 

 noticed there, nor in the north of England.f An adult male in 

 the collection of Mr. R. Davis of Clonmel, was shot on a cliff 

 near Youghal, in January, 1843. Dr. Harvey sent for my in- 

 spection from Cork, on the 6th of November, 1845, the wing 

 and tail of one, killed a few days before that date by the Rev. 

 Joseph Stopford, at Castlefreke, near Rosscarberry, in the west of 

 the county of Cork. This bird, as well as that taken in the Glas- 



* Jard.; Macgil.; Yarr. 



f This is the individual noticed in the preface to Yarrell's Brit. Birds, p. vi. 1st edit, 

 as killed in the north of Ireland. 



