WHEATEAR 15 
western Europe on the date in question.’ It is, however, 
towards the end of March that they usually commenced to 
be recorded at our stations, and my own earliest date is the 
28th of that month, while Mr. Kermode gives the 19th. In 
April they arrive abundantly, and on 13th April 1885, 
seven out of numbers which all night surrounded the 
lantern were killed at Langness, while on the same night 
at the Bahama L. V. no fewer than fifty-two ‘Stone- 
chatters’ were killed or captured. This movement was 
felt at the Maidens and Rathlin, and in great force along 
the western coast of Scotland. A dead female was picked 
up early in the morning of 15th April 1890 in Marina 
Road, Douglas, having doubtless struck in its night migra- 
tion over the town. During April and May many frequent 
our coast, but in June I have seen but few and scattered 
examples. In late July and in August the return journey 
is being made, and though by October the bird is scarce, 
several are reported at Langness so late as 8th November 
(1887). 
The stay of migrating parties of Wheatears in Man is 
often prolonged ; they appear to while away the time in 
their leisurely passage. They love the selvage of rough 
land which almost all round the island skirts the coast, and 
favourite localities are occupied for week after week in April 
and May. Such spots are the point of Scarlett, a piece of 
greensward interspersed with outcrops of rock and brackish 
pools, and on the other side of Castletown Bay, some wet 
_ salt ground, with sandy links adjoining, at the isthmus of 
the Langness promontory. In these bare and open but 
sunny spots the birds linger until nesting operations might 
_ be expected to have commenced; but as May ends they 
all disappear, and the place is deserted until the end of 
July. 
Wheatears may also be seen scattered thinly over the 
