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was afterwards seen in the Regent's Park. In 1830 two more specimens were obtained, one at 

 Bristol, the other at Brighton. In January 1833 a fifth occurred at Teignmouth ; and in 

 December 1835 one was shot near Bristol. Since then the recorded occurrences have become 

 almost innumerable, and the bird is now to be considered a regular winter visitant to most of 

 the south-western counties — certain localities on the coasts of the Isle of Wight, Devon, Cornwall, 

 and Pembrokeshire being hardly ever untenanted at that season. To the eastward it is less 

 common ; but it has occurred many times in Sussex, and more or less often in Kent, Suffolk, and 

 Norfolk — almost always near the sea. Further inland it has been observed as a straggler in Berk- 

 shire, Oxfordshire, and Derbyshire, and so far to the northward as near Liverpool. Bellamy, in 

 1839, said it had been known to breed at Exeter ; and there is some reason to think that it did so 

 in 1852 at Rongdon, in Staffordshire, as recorded by the late Mr. R. W. Hawkins (Zool. p. 3503); 

 for the appearance of the eggs, then taken, satisfied the scruples of Mr. Hewitson (Eggs Br. B. 

 ed. 3, p. 106). Mr. Sterland also, in the 'Birds of Sherwood Forest' (pp. 67, 68), mentions 

 nests found in 1854 and 1856 near Ollerton, in Nottinghamshire, which he believes were those 

 of this species ; and one of the eggs he took and kindly sent to the Editor seems to confirm the 

 supposition. Mr. Gray, too, states that he was informed by Mr. George Kirkpatrick that in 

 1858 he found a nest and eggs at Duncow, near Dumfries, which he could not make out to 

 belong to any other than this species. In Scotland, however, the Black Redstart is a rare bird. 

 Mr. Gray mentions only three cases in which it has occurred as a visitor : — some twenty years 

 since in Caithness; at Cullen, in Banffshire, in 1857; and at Kirkwall, in Orkney, in 1857: but 

 Dr. Gordon informs the Editor of its having been found near Elgin in one or two instances. 



"Though, as already stated, the specimen obtained in 1829 was the first to make the 

 species known as British, Thompson says that, so early as 1818, Mr. Ball saw it about Youghal, 

 in Ireland, and in the course of that and the next few years ten examples were seen, of which 

 five were killed in one autumn. Thompson further mentions its occurrence more recently in 

 the same locality, as well as in others on the west coast, and the capture of one on board ship 

 between Glasgow and Belfast. In 1855 Mr. Bilson told the Editor of one obtained in Galway; 

 and Mr. Blake-Knox, who has recorded the appearance of several examples near Dublin, kindly 

 furnishes the information that it comes every winter to that part of Ireland, sometimes in 

 companies of from five to twenty, and that he has seen ten or more together catching flies 

 against a sunny wall." 



To the above notes I may add that Mr. Cecil Smith, writing from Somersetshire, informs 

 me that it " is not common, but has been occasionally obtained in this county. I have a fine 

 male which was shot at a place called Galmington, close to Taunton ; with this exception, all the 

 specimens I have seen or heard of in the county occurred on or near the coast. 



" In Guernsey the Black Redstart seems more common than in England, even than in 

 Devonshire, which county appears especially favoured by it. When in Guernsey, in October 

 and November 1871, I saw several Black Redstarts, and, as I did not want specimens, I took the 

 opportunity of watching them : they usually frequented the low part of the island, known as 

 the vale, especially from Cobo to Lancresse Bays : they appeared to me more to take the place 

 of the Wheatear than of the common Redstart, both as to locality and habits. The part I 

 found them in is a favourite locality of the Wheatear during the summer ; it consists almost 



