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THE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. 



Muscicapa grisola L. 



This species arrived along the whole of the southern coast 

 between Devon and Essex, but chiefly at the eastern end. 

 There was not a single record from the county of Cornwall. 



A few stragglers were noted during the three last days of 

 April in Devon, Gloucester, Oxford, Suffolk, Denbigh and 

 Yorkshire. 



About the end of the first week in May larger numbers 

 began to be recorded. They spread up the western side 

 of the country through Wales, and reached Westmoreland 

 on the 7th of May. An increase in numbers in that county 

 was noted on the following day, when arrivals were also 

 recorded in Cheshire and Lancashire. On the 12th the 

 species was recorded in Cumberland. 



On the eastern side, with the exception of three examples 

 observed in Yorkshire on the 27th of April and one in 

 Lincolnshire on the 7th of May, there were no records 

 of a northern extension of the bird's range until the 10th 

 and 12 th of May, when the number of Spotted Flycatchers 

 in Yorkshire was said to have increased. The species was 

 first noted in Northumberland on the 18th, and a slight 

 increase in numbers was reported on the 23rd. 



A nest almost ready for eggs was found in Berkshire on 

 the 17th of May, and nests with eggs were recorded from 

 Wiltshire on the 22nd, from Lancashire on the 28th, and 

 from Radnor on the 31st. 



