19I2. pATTKN. — Spotted Fl) catchers on Migration. I97 



on the night of the 5th of August.^ Again, on Wednesday 

 night at 10.15 p.m. I collected a Whitethroat at the 

 lantern. On August 8th Mr. Glanville handed me a dead 

 Spotted Flycatcher which he picked up in a pool of water 

 on the rock at 9.45 a.m. The bird was not fresh enough to 

 have been killed the previous night, and no doubt it struck 

 on the night of the 6th inst. with the other two above 

 .mentioned which were collected. 



The way in which I found my second specimen was in- 

 teresting, and shows the value of making a thorough search 

 with the hand-lamp. At 11 p.m., as I stood on the balcony, 

 a bird dashed in along the path of one of the white beams of 

 light with great speed, hitting the glass with a loud rap just 

 over my head. The strike was made rather obliquely, and the 

 victim " cannoned " off with a rebound which hurled it over 

 the balcony railings down into the abyss of darkness below. 

 From the lifeless aspect of the bird as it was carried off the 

 glass I knew the strike was sufficiently hard to render the 

 victim unconscious, and so I hurried down to the rock, and 

 calculating about where the bird should have fallen, I 

 suddenly switched on my flash lamp and almost at the same 

 moment found my Flycatcher crouching low, half dazed, 

 and gasping deeply with open mouth for breath. Had I not 

 descended at once the bird would probably have recovered 

 itself sufficiently to flutter into some lurking place, only to 

 be discovered and devoured next day by the marauding 

 Herring- or Black-backed Gull. 



Here, then, on August 6th, for the most part a dark, over- 

 cast rainy night, many Flycatchers appeared, their presence 

 having been attested by the capture of several specimens. 



On August 17th, at 9.50 p.m., Mr. O'Leary, assistant 

 light -keeper, collected the fourth specimen. It struck the 

 lantern. He saw another close to the glass. At 10.20 p.m. 

 Mr. Glanville saw two more, and at 10.30 p.m., I saw one — 

 all flying close to the lantern. The night was starry over- 

 head, the luminous rays rather feeble, and the harbour, etc., 

 lights ashore very clear and bright. No other birds appeared 



1 For convenience, I regard all the hours of darkness as one night with 

 a single date. For example, 11 p.m. August 5th, and 2 p.m. August 6th 

 would be included in " the night ot August 5th." 



