AUTUMN MIGRATION AT LITTLE ROSS LIGHTHOUSE 5 



being large birds, they show up prominently in the rays, also 

 they are heavy, and when they strike are instantly killed. 

 One night I was standing out on the balcony right among 

 them, when one struck me on the side of the face and left me 

 fairly dizzy for some time. After a big migration night I 

 have picked up in the court below and round about the 

 tower as many as thirty-six Golden Plover, the wounded, too, 

 are thickly scattered over the island. The mortality among 

 the Lapwings is even greater, we collect them, and have 

 stews and pies, but even so, many have to be buried or given 

 to the Gulls. Skylarks and Starlings also pay heavy toll at 

 the lantern. The former appear as soon as the end of August, 

 and strong rushes take place in September and October, 

 a larger percentage of Larks is killed than of any other bird. 

 Starlings we have at all times ; every hazy night brings some 

 to the lantern, but during October the great migration rushes 

 of this species are a feature of the nights. Besides these 

 migrant Starlings, we have many residents, the caves and 

 fissures amongst the rocks are full of them roosting at night. 

 They are very reliable weather prophets, leaving these roost- 

 ing quarters when a change is going to take place. It is 

 wonderful what an attraction the light has to most land-birds, 

 yet there are others which it never affects. The Rock-pipit, 

 for instance, though locally very numerous, rarely appears 

 at the light, and the same may be said of Owls and Hawks 

 (Peregrine, Kestrel, and Sparrow-hawk) : these, though 

 resident in the district, rarely visit the lantern, and then only 

 in search of food. Curlew I have caught in the light-room, 

 having on some nights to leave the door from the light-room 

 out to the balcony open, owing to condensation : these birds 

 walk straight in, and make no attempt to fly. 



It is a wonderful sight, standing on the balcony on a big 

 migration night, with the revolving rays above one's head 

 and these myriads of birds flying and screaming about the 

 lantern. As I stand there I conjecture the distance these 

 feathered mites have travelled before they reached here, and 

 the yet greater distance many of them will have to journey 

 before they reach their destination. 



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