GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS 73 



Another favourably situated place for witnessing 

 bird-movements on the opposite shores of the Channel 

 are the Casquets, off Alderney, which lie in the direct 

 course of the stream of migration which traverses the 

 northern coast-line of France, and are visited by great 

 numbers of migrants. 



In the autumn the birds retrace their flight, and cross 

 the Channel by the same lines as in the spring. On the 

 eastern section of the south coast at that season there is 

 a decided movement of emigrants eastwards towards 

 Newhaven and Dover, whence they cross the Channel 

 for the shores of the Continent, and probably join the 

 stream moving westwards at that season along the north 

 coast of France. 



The south coast is traversed in the autumn in a 

 westerly direction by considerable numbers of migrants 

 from the northern and eastern districts of Britain, and 

 also by many migrants from the Continent en route for 

 winter quarters in the southern counties and Ireland. 

 These great western movements along our southern 

 coast-line and its immediate vicinity are renewed in 

 winter, when that season is characterised by periods of 

 unusual severity, the birds fleeing en masse before these 

 storms likewise including both British and Continental 

 emigrants, but chiefly the former. There are return 

 movements in spring in an easterly direction, but at 

 that season they are gradually performed, and hence 

 are much less in evidence. 



The great majority of the migrants appearing in 

 spring (and departing in the autumn) consists of members 

 of two groups — the Summer Visitors and the Birds of 

 Passage. In addition to these, there are similar 

 movements of the Partial Migrants, and of the birds 



