Tin-: ^riG RATIONS nv tuf. skvt.ark 2ni 



change its quarters when that is covered with snow, and 

 only somcwliat less quickly when it is merely frost- 

 bound without snow. Should the late autumn and 

 winter be uniformly mild, the Skylarks sojourning with 

 us remain practically stationary. Few if any winters 

 are, however, entirely free from snow or frost, and with 

 the first outbreak of cold the birds must remove them- 

 selves from its untoward influence. Sometimes suit- 

 able lodging may be found not far off, and then the 

 movement is but local or partial in character. When 

 this occurs, and the stress is but short, the birds soon 

 return to their former haunts ; but if the adverse con- 

 ditions continue and become general, the movement also 

 becomes widespread and more or less universal. This 

 effect is especially produced by great snowstorms, 

 when the number of fugitives is so vast that people 

 wonder where such prodigious multitudes can come 

 from, as they throng towards the coast, and sweep 

 along the seaboard and its neighbourhood to reach the 

 milder south-west coast of England — Devon, Cornwall, 

 and the Scilly Isles — though many undoubtedly cross 

 the Channel for the Continent, and others proceed to 

 Ireland. On the other hand, a few — and these are, 

 perhaps, of our native stock — attempt to brave the 

 unfavourable conditions, partly by resorting to unwonted 

 places of shelter, especially the sea-shore, but many, if 

 not most of these, succumb to famine. In Ireland, too, 

 there are many winter movements, due to the pressure 

 of climatic conditions, and Cork and Kerry are especially 

 resorted to during hard weather ; but winter emigration 

 must be regarded as exceptional in Ireland, for one 

 portion or another of its shores generally affords an 

 asylum in the severest seasons, though many birds 



