24 STUDIES IN BIRD-MIGRATION 



birds to set out to cross the sea for Britain ; for birds, 

 like ourselves, prefer fine weather for their voyages. 

 These favourable conditions may not extend entirely 

 across the North Sea, and should the migrants pass 

 into a gale before reaching our shores, which they some- 

 times do. many perish, and their remains are washed up 

 in great numbers on our beaches. One of the greatest 

 of all dangers, perhaps, is the numerous lighthouses and 

 light-vessels on and off our own and other coasts. 

 These, under certain conditions of weather, which will 

 afterwards be fully described, are veritable shambles. 

 Those who have not witnessed a " bird-night " at a light- 

 station cannot form any conception of the appalling 

 loss of life that takes place. I have stood on the gallery 

 of the Eddystone lighthouse and watched the emigrants 

 striking the great lantern and falling into the surf 

 beneath for ten and a half hours without a break. I 

 have stood on the deck of the Kentish Knock lightship 

 from dusk to dawn, and seen birds falling thickly the 

 whole time, to perish miserably, many of them being 

 merely stunned, in the calmest of seas. On each of 

 these occasions thousands of the migrants perished. 

 What must the combined slaughter have been at these 

 and neighbouring stations, or, perhaps, at many British 

 stations, for the conditions and the movements are often 

 wide spread? What for a whole season? Hundreds 

 of thousands : I am convinced of this. Another danger 

 may be alluded to, namely, the havoc wrought among 

 the travellers by Birds of Prey. These destroyers take 

 a heavy toll, for many follow their migrating prey and 

 play havoc in their ranks, both during the daytime and 

 in the dark. Owls frequently (and sometimes even 

 the "noble" Peregrine Falcon and the "brave" little 



