14 DUBLIN NATUKAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



In Great Britain the species has occurred no less than thirty-five 

 times, nearly one hnndred specimens being recorded in •' Yarrell's Bri- 

 tish Birds," " Morris's British Birds," " The Zoologist," and in " The 

 Field." They are noted in the months of October to May inclusive, in 

 different years ; in the last month only once. The years in which it has 

 been noted are— 1829, 1830, 1833, 1835, 1839, 1842, 1844, 1847, 

 1849, 1853, 1856, an dl859. It has occurred in the following southern 

 maritime shires : — Cornwall (where E. Hearle Rodd and W. Burt state 

 it is a regular winter visitant), Devon, Hants, Sussex, and Kent ; also 

 in Middlesex, Oxford, and Gloucestershire. In all these the bird has 

 occurred so frequently as to lead us to indorse Messrs. Rodd's and Burt's 

 opinion for the whole of the southern coast of England. Farther north 

 it is recorded in Norfolkshire and Derbyshire, and in "The Field" of 

 last week I find it recorded from Kirkwall, in Orkney. 



In the European continent its range is — Sweden, where it is scarce ; 

 Germany and France, where it is a regular summer visitant ; Spain, a 

 winter visitant; Provence and Italy, where it resides from April to 

 ISTovember, and occasionally in the south of Italy all the year ; Corfu, 

 Sicily, Malta, Tangier, and north of Africa. More eastward it is re- 

 corded from the Morea and Smyrna ; and Dr. William Carte has brought 

 it from the Crimea, where he states, however, that it came only once 

 under his notice in very severe weather in April, 1856. Taking all 

 these facts into consideration, we must include this species among the 

 summer migrants of Europe, whose longitudinal range in summer passes 

 east of the British Isles, although in winter, probably owing to prevail- 

 ing winds, the birds are frequently, perhaps even regularly, blown on 

 the shores of these islands, and thus occur as pretty regular winter mi- 

 grants. I am strengthened in this belief by an observation in "The 

 Zoologist" for 1857, occurring in a paper by Captain C. W. Watkins on 

 the Birds of Andalusia, in which it is stated that Ph. tithys only occurs 

 in winter months, and disappears about April. I make little doubt that 

 if this species were watched for on the sea-clifi's of our southern coun- 

 ties, it would be found to be a nearly regular winter visitant ; for I have 

 heard of several redstarts captured on the coasts of Waterford, Wexford, 

 and Cork, which have never come under the notice of the naturalist, 

 which were most probably of this species. I should add, that the birds 

 were in good condition and plumage, and their stomachs filled with in- 

 sects, chiefly Coleoptera. 



ON MIGEATION IN BIRDS, AND ITS BEABINGS ON THE WINTER OCCURRENCE IN 

 THE BRITISH ISLES OF EUROPEAN SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



The migration of birds has been from earliest times an object of atten- 

 tion and admiration even to the unscientific. I need not do more than 

 allude to the frequent references to, and accurate descriptions of it, 

 which occur in the oldest classics ; and even among unlettered savages 

 of the present day we find migrations of birds anxiously watched for, 

 and in some cases accurately predicted. It is, therefore, no matter of 



