272 STUDIES IN BIRD-MIGRATION 



The autumn immigrants from both East and North 

 settle down for the winter in Great Britain — chiefly, 

 I believe, in eastern England — and a few may proceed 

 south of the British area after arrival on our shores. 



AiUumn Emigration from Britain.— P^X. the Goodwin 

 lightships, on several occasions during September and 

 October,^ Rooks, sometimes in considerable numbers, have 

 been recorded as crossing the Straits of Dover in the 

 daytime, in an easterly and south-easterly direction, as if 

 proceeding to the coasts of Belgium and France, These 

 records are of considerable interest when considered in 

 connection with the more regularly observed return 

 movement, which occurs in the spring. The early date 

 at which some of these migrations are chronicled would 

 seem to indicate that the emigrants are British birds, 

 for they set in prior to the arrival of the earliest autumn 

 visitors from the Continent ; hence the Rook is possibly 

 a Summer Visitor to Britain. 



Spring Immigration to Britain.- — During late Feb- 

 ruary, throughout March, and sometimes in the first half 

 of April, ^ considerable numbers of Rooks, occasionally 

 accompanied by Daws, Starlings, and Skylarks, arrive 

 during the daytime on the south-east coast of England 

 between Kent and Norfolk, the immigrations on some 

 occasions lasting for several successive days. 



The late Sir Edward Newton made a number of 

 interesting observations on these movements as 

 witnessed by him at Lowestoft. He writes thus of one 

 of them, which occurred on 31st March 1889: — "This 

 morning, while sitting in the house, I heard Rooks and 



1 The earliest of these autumn departures is dated 9th September, and 

 the latest 30th October. 



- The earliest record is for 23rd February, and the latest for 18th April. 



