94 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



English birds, the Carrion Crow, Corvus corone, is entirely 

 replaced by G. comix ; the following species are absent : — 

 Blackcap, Blue, Marsh, and Coal Tits, Jay, Nuthatch, Whinchat, 

 Wood Warbler, Chiffchaff, Green Woodpecker, Barn and Tawny 

 Owls. The Kedstart, Creeper, Nightjar, Long-tailed Titmouse, 

 Spotted Flycatcher, and Bullfinch are either very uncommon or 

 of exceptional occurrence. The Goldfinch also has 1 of late years 

 become rare. 



Almost all birds, and their eggs, are protected here by Act of 

 Tynwald during the breeding season, and many are so protected 

 all the year round. 



Missel Thrush, Turdus viscivorus. — The "Wood Thrush," 

 as it is locally termed, is now one of our most common and 

 conspicuous birds, breeding freely in gardens and shrubberies, 

 as well as in small plantations all over the country. In 1888 

 I saw a nest with eggs at Greeba, built on a ledge of rock about 

 six feet from the ground. This position was the more singular 

 as the rocky brow was in a plantation, and trees almost over- 

 shadowed it. Another was placed among the sticks of an old 

 Magpie's nest in a small tree. A third was on the woodwork of 

 a disused mine-wheel. 



King Ouzel, T. torquatus. — Sometimes seen on passage, but 

 does not breed in the Isle of Man. 



Dipper, Cinclus aquaticus. — Specimens are occasionally ob- 

 tained, but it is not a very common bird, and it is difficult to say 

 whether any pairs breed in the island. 



Wheatear, Saxicola cenanthe.—The numbers breeding bear but 

 a small proportion to the flocks which pass on migration. From 

 the * Migration Beport ' for 1885 it appears that 52 were killed 

 or captured in one night in April at the * Bahama' 1. v., Ramsey 

 Bay, and on the same night "great numbers" were reported at 

 Langness, showing a movement along our eastern coast. 



Stonechat, Pratincola rubicola. — This is one of the commonest 

 and most noticeable of our wild birds. It remains both summer 

 and winter on our gorse-covered commons, on all the rough 

 margins of our sea-cliffs, and the high sod-fences and selvages of 

 uncultivated ground that often border our smaller roads. I have 

 even seen it perched on the top of a tangle-stem sticking from 

 the dtbris of Douglas beach. 



Sedge Warbler, Acrocephalus schosnobcenus. — This species 



