GOLDEN -CRESTED WREN. 77 



a large flight was reported at Flamborough and Scarborough 

 {Zool. 1876, pp. 4778, 4923), and the following year at Spurn 

 {op. cit. 1877, p. 42), at the same time many large flocks were 

 seen at Redcar ; immense quantities were noted at Spurn 

 again on i6th October 1878 {op. cit. 1879, P- 43) '■> then, 

 coming to the period when the British Association Migration 

 Committee commenced its work, numerous entries are noted 

 in the Reports, which are too voluminous for recapitulation, 

 but the great rush of 1882 may be alluded to when " they 

 covered the entire length of the east coast and the migration 

 extended over ninety-two days, commencing 6th August ; 

 near Redcar on the 13th of that month about fifty were seen 

 at the Teesmouth ; they arrived somewhat sparingly in 

 August and September, and day after day in enormous 

 numbers in October : in this month they are recorded at 

 twenty-one stations between the Fame Islands and Guernsey ; 

 two great rushes took place, one on the 7th and 8th October, 

 and again on the 12th and 13th, the latter with Woodcock, 

 and great numbers are supposed to have perished on passage." 

 (Fourth Report, p. 32.) They arrived at Spurn daily during 

 October until all the hedges and the grass on the sand-dunes 

 positively swarmed with them ; on the sand-hills near Redcar 

 a huge flock, like a swarm of bees, came directly off the sea 

 and settled amongst the hedgerows near where I was watching 

 for wildfowl ; one of the oldest fishermen remarked to me on 

 the 13th October that he had " never seen so many humming- 

 birds " (as they are locally termed). The years 1886 and 

 1889 were also noticeable for unusually large numbers on mi- 

 gration. Subsequent to the Reports of the Migration Com- 

 mittee, rushes occurred in 1892, on the 14th to i6th October, 

 at Spurn and Flamborough, and again in 1898 from the 

 6th to the 15th October, and in 1906 at the end of October, 

 The vernal passage takes place in March or April when 

 they are seen near the coast in small parties and are 

 occasionally killed by striking against the lighthouses ; two 

 met their death in this manner at Flamborough on 4th April 

 1899, and, on 30th March 1890, a swarm was observed in the 

 hedges near the lighthouse. In 1898 some were seen at 



