202 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



angles to their position. Both in autumn and in spring 

 I have often watched large numbers passing along at 

 heights at which there was no chance of identification. 

 A Gull might be distinguished from a Curlew, or a Wild 

 Duck from a Cormorant, or a Sea -pie from a Sparrow- 

 hawk, but generally even this cannot be done. There 

 seems every reason to believe that on such clear days 

 as these, when the birds can only be distinguished as dots, 

 multitudes were in flight higher still, beyond the limits of 

 vision. 



In Solway, one of the most interesting observations 

 is the crossing of the lines of flight. Long since, the Rev. 

 Hugh A. Macpherson, whose death in the full vigour of 

 his powers and usefulness every British ornithologist still 

 mourns, long since Mr. Macpherson called the Solway 

 Firth a great ornithological junction. This likening of 

 the meeting-place of the two main lines of bird flight to 

 a railway junction was a very happy analogy. Species 

 that are quite abundant along the east coasts of England 

 and Scotland may cross England at its narrowest part 

 opposite the Solway Firth, either in scanty numbers, very 

 rarely, or not at all. West of the Solway Firth such 

 species become scarcer still. 



It is noteworthy that a directly northward flight in 

 spring is rather exceptional ; all have a more or less west- 

 ward bend in their direction. On the contrary the autumn 

 flight is far more direct, and goes almost, if not quite, due 

 south. 



Some spring times the Redwings and Fieldfares "crowd 

 down " in Solway to a very large extent during April, and 

 they occasionally remain well on into May. Then it is of 

 peculiar interest to see them going off about sunset, or later, 

 mounting high into the clear sky, and going along in 

 compact bodies, due east, uttering their chattering calls as 

 they fly rapidly out of sight. The late stay of these birds 

 when they cover the pasture fields, their voices mingling 

 with the songs of the Willow Warblers, the Cuckoo, and 

 the Corncrake, is of somewhat incongruous effect, but is 

 a pleasant and not rare experience. 



So far I have dealt only with the two regular seasonal 



