A MONTH ON THE EDDVSTONE 293 



It would have been quite possible to have captured a 

 thousand Starlings and as many Skylarks. It was other- 

 wise with the various species of Thrush. These, though 

 present in equal or even greater numbers than either of 

 the species just alluded to, were not affected to anything 

 like the same degree. The Blackbirds and Song- 

 Thrushes approached the lantern more freely than their 

 congeners, but they had a habit of coming up to some 

 extent "side on," so to speak, and consequently they 

 glanced off either a little stunned or quite uninjured. 

 These birds did not attempt to remain at the lantern, 

 and those which were captured showed extreme fear. 

 The Redwing, one of the most numerous species 

 present, was very shy, and still more so were the Mistle- 

 Thrushes and the Fieldfares ; the latter only approached 

 the lantern and did not strike. 



That this was a great movement is evident from the 

 fact that the senior keeper had only once before during 

 his sixteen years' experience seen one of equal magnitude, 

 namely, at the Casquets, off Alderney. The other keepers 

 had not seen anything like it before. It appears to have 

 been a far-reaching movement, too ; for at the Bishop's 

 Rock lighthouse, south of the Scilly Isles, and loo 

 miles west of the Eddystone, a considerable migra- 

 tion was in progress at the same time, and Starlings, 

 Thrushes, and Fieldfares are recorded as having been 

 captured at the lantern. It was not, however, a great 

 night for victims apart from Starlings and Skylarks ; but 

 had a thick drizzling rain replaced the thin veil of haze, 

 the slaughter would, in the opinion of the keepers, have 



perpendicularly from the railing. The object was to prevent any birds 

 that struck from falling over. It answered admirably, and was the means 

 of saving many birds which would otherwise have been drowned. 

 I. T 2 



