Redwing.—I saw the first here on the 8th of November. Curiously enough, the only three birds killed against the Whitby High Lights in October, were two Redwings and a Lark.
Fieldfare.—I saw the first here on the 9th of November, two or three only; on the 15th many, but all birds of the year.
Blackbirds.—Came in, as usual, in large numbers, the bulk of them about the 16th and 17th of October, also up to the end of the month and in November.
Ring Ouzel.—These birds were seen at Spurn, as Mr. Lewis informs me, about the 16th and 17th of October, when the large body of Blackbirds came. I have usually met with them sparingly in these marshes, and in some autumns, at the time the other Turdidæ arrive, very rarely, however, coming across an adult bird—the majority are young of both sexes and females:[1] these are often difficult to distinguish amongst a hedgeful of Blackbirds, except by their grayer look and notes. Others, old birds, arrived at Spurn about the 28th of October—"old birds in full plumage," as Mr. Lewis says, "but not many." At the Flamborough Head Light, on the 30th of October, wind S.W., overcast, Starlings, Blackbirds, Ring Ouzels and Fieldfares came against the glasses. As a rule, the Starlings arrive a week before the Turdidæ. In Heligoland, Mr. Gätke says, "The Ring Ouzels came during the end of the month of October, which is four weeks too late for them here. There has been general disorder this year amongst the migrants." I have no notice of any Ring Ouzels north of Flamborough Head.
Golden-crested Wren.—I saw the first Goldcrests here on the 23rd of October. At Spurn they arrived about the 16th and 17th. At Flamborough, on October 20th, one pair of Golden-crested Wrens, male and female, accompanied by one Fire-crested Wren,[2] a male, struck the glass of the lighthouse between ten and eleven o'clock at night; weather very cold and much rain; wind S.E. At the Hartlepool Lighthouse the most frequent bird coming against
- ↑ Dr. Saxby ('Birds of Shetland,' p. 65) says, "In autumn we are generally visited by females, each accompanied by two or more young birds."
- ↑ I have not seen this bird: my informant, the Principal of the lighthouse, may have been mistaken. So-called Fire-crests captured on this coast I have invariably found to be old male Gold-crests. Professor Newton, in the new edition of Yarrell's 'British Birds' (vol. i., p. 459), points out the most obvious distinction between the two species: writing of the Fire-crested Wren, he says, "The black streak in which the eye is placed is the character by which this species can be more readily distinguished from the Golden-crested Wren."
