A MONTH ON THE EDDYSTONE 297 



Pipits and Wagtails was of regular occurrence. The 

 movements were performed during particular hours only, 

 commencing almost immediately after daybreak — i.e., 

 from 6.15 A.M. to 7 A.M. — and were entirely over by or 

 before midday. So rigidly were these hours adhered to 

 by the emigrants, that I soon found the afternoons to 

 be quite unproductive, and consequently I regulated my 

 hours of rest accordingly. 



The Meadow- Pipits often passed in small parties, 

 consisting of as many as a score, but frequently in twos 

 and threes, and sometimes even singly. The height of 

 their flight varied from 20 feet, or less, above the 

 water, to occasionally as much as 200 feet, and its 

 direction was due south. These birds were observed 

 on emigration, in greater or less numbers, on sixteen 

 days,^ during which vast numbers passed close to the 

 lighthouse, the passage being on some days continuous 

 between sunrise and midday. They invariably uttered 

 their familiar notes as they flitted by. The greatest 

 movements were chronicled on 30th September and ist, 

 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 15th October. 



On the same days, with hardly an exception, and 

 during the same hours of the morning and forenoon that 

 the Pipits were migrating. Wagtails, singly or in pairs 

 — but never more than three together, and that seldom 

 — were also observed moving southwards. The species 

 identified were the Pied, the White, and the Grey Wag- 

 tail ; but in what proportion I was unable to determine, 

 for it was only occasionally that the birds were seen 

 under conditions which permitted of their being identified 

 with certainty, as they generally flew at comparatively 



' I was thirty-two days on the rock, and during that period fourteen days 

 were entirely unsuited for migration, owing to adverse weather-conditions. 



