DUBLIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 19 



Tliird — European summer migrants, occurring in winter in the Bri- 

 tannic area : — 



Great grayshrike {L. excubitor). Northumberland and Cumberland, 

 Durham, Cheshire, "Worcester, JS'orfolk, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Hert- 

 ford, Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Devon; on two occasions it has bred in 

 England. Ilorth of England, the species is noted in N'orway, Sweden, 

 Denmark, Lapland, Eussia ; south, in Germany, Holland (rare), France, 

 Spain, Fezzan. In Ireland, the species has occurred in Antrim, 1 834-35 ; 

 Down, 1845; Londonderry, 1846; Sligo, 1831 or '32; Westmeath, 

 Dublin, 1822 or '23, 1831, 1850; Queen's County, 1847; Louth, Tip- 

 perary, Waterford, Cork, 1824, 1844, 1845. 



Black redstart {P. tithys). Kirkwall, Orkney, Norfolk, Derbyshire, 

 Kent, Sussex, Devon, Middlesex, Oxford, Gloucestershire, Hants, Corn- 

 wall (vide preceding paper). Extra Britannic range — Sweden, Ger- 

 many, France, Spain, Provence, Italy, Sicily, Malta, Tangier. In Ire- 

 land—Near Belfast, 1841 ; Dublin, 1859 ; Wexford, 1836 ; Cork, 1845 ; 

 Waterford, 1818 to '22, 1847-48. 



The parallelism between these species, as to distribution and occur- 

 rence, is striking, and the necessary connexion between the causes of it 

 scarcely needs comment. These remarks have already run to such a 

 length that I must omit the many examples which might be quoted 

 from other groups of birds falling under the same categories, for those 

 quoted have, I think, sufficiently proven that the explanation given is 

 correct. 



Confirmation of the same thing is also seen if examination be made 

 into other facts relating to distribution. For instance, we find that 

 of those birds which are resident in Great Britain, non-resident yet 

 occasional visitants to Ireland, all are migratory in some parts of the 

 European Continent, and all have occurred in Ireland in the winter. 

 As examples, may be cited the kite {Milvus regalis), the great spotted 

 woodpecker {Picus major), Antrim, 1839, 1849; Londonderry, 1832; 

 Armagh, 1845; Dublin, 1831, 1850; Wicklow, 1848; Wexford, 1845; 

 Waterford, 1850; Carlow, 1845; Tipperary, 1831, 1849; Sligo, 1835, 

 1850. In two cases only have these birds occurred here — viz., in May 

 and August — in other than winter months. 



It is remarkable also that aU the southern species, which have only 

 occurred once or twice in this country, have done so in winter — the 

 spotted eagle {A. ncevia), griffon vulture, White's thrush, crested lark, 

 two-banded crossbill, &c. Northern stragglers occurring here — as the 

 eagle owl, snowy owl, and Bohemian waxwing — have been long ago 

 recognised as birds driven from their migratory course, and an error has 

 been committed in not making a more general application of the law to 

 all cases of accidental visitants — an error the more surprising as some of 

 our authorities (as, for instance, William Thompson) have recognised it 

 in regard to some species, to wit, the woodpecker, quoted above. I have 

 little doubt that to the same principles we must look for the explanation 

 of the fact, that the occurrence of Australian, American, and African 



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