42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



At the Swansea meeting in August, 1880, Prof. A. Newton read 

 a paper " On the Migration of Birds, and Messrs. Harvie-Brown 

 and Cordeaux's method of obtaining systematic observations of the 

 same at Lighthouses and Lightships," and in it " urged the 

 Association to lend its countenance to the renewed attempts " 

 which we were making, " and to encourage, with its approval, these 

 gentlemen and their fellow-workers, the men of the Lighthouses 

 and Lightships." As a result of this, official notice reached us in 

 due course that the General Committee of the Association had 

 appointed Prof. Newton, Mr. J. Cordeaux, and myself, " a Com- 

 mittee for the purpose of obtaining (with the consent of the 

 Master and Brethren of the Trinity House, and of the Commis- 

 sioners of Northern Lights) observations on the Migration of Birds 

 at Lighthouses and Lightships, and of reporting upon the same at 

 York in 1881, and that Mr. Cordeaux be the Secretary." 



I may add here that the schedules for 1880-81 were duly issued 

 and additional stations secured in Faroe and Iceland through the 

 Scottish Meteorological Society. An abstract of the Second Eeport 

 of the Committee was read at the York meeting of the British 

 Association in September, 1881, and the Eeport has since been 

 printed in extenso. 



I may here reiterate that this Report and former Reports on 

 Ornithology are closely related to the Migration Reports, and are 

 indeed intended to supplement the latter. It would therefore be 

 of great advantage if they could be issued simultaneously, as 

 otherwise they lose half their value. 



Journal of the Winter of 1880-81. 

 On 2nd October snow lay on the hills round Callander, and on 

 4th keen frost at night. Trees, which began to yellow even in 

 September, threw their leaves fast in October, and hard frosts set 

 in at night. From about 15th October regular night frosts con- 

 tinued in Stirlingshire. Ice formed on rivers and pools, and by 

 20th remained all day, even with bright sky overhead. Severe 

 snow-storms reported from various parts, nearly 5 inches lying at 

 Dava, the highest point of the Highland Railway, between the 

 Spey Valley and Forres, and also between Inverness and Thurso. 

 " The cold is still intense and the thermometer very low " — [Edin. 

 Courant, 21. x. 80]. Snow also fell in London, and a corres- 

 pondent of The Times, writing on " Early Snow," says, that during 



