74 STUDIES IN BIRD-MIGRATION 



evicted by severe climatic conditions (Winter Emi- 

 grants). These four groups of migrants have already- 

 been defined (see Chapter III.). The members of the 

 two last-named groups are usually the first to reappear 

 in the spring. 



Movements of British Summer Visitors.^ — On 

 arriving on the south coast, those birds which intend to 

 pass the summer in the British Islands at once proceed to 

 their accustomed nesting haunts. To reach these widely 

 distributed areas, many pass inland at various points on 

 the south coast, while others move along the east and 

 west coast-lines, the courses of rivers being largely 

 used as highways to the interior. Ireland receives its 

 summer birds either direct from the south, or from 

 the south-west of England, after passage across St 

 George's Channel. The great majority enter Ireland in 

 spring, and depart from it in autumn, at or about the 

 south-eastern angle, where stands the Tuskar Rock, 

 one of the most famous of the Irish stations as an 

 ornithological observatory. 



In seeking and returning from the inland seasonal 

 haunts, the migrants follow a multiplicity of routes. 

 The majority of these are mere by-paths which can 

 only be known in any district to naturalists who 

 have long resided in it, and who have paid close 

 attention to the comings and goings of these feathered 

 visitors. 



Spring Routes to the North of Birds of Passage. 

 • — The Birds of Passage are the most numerous of all 

 the migrants which visit the south coast. We have 

 learned (p. 35) that they are en route in spring to 



^ Here are included the Partial Migrants which are also Summer 

 Visitors (see pages 49-50). 



