Mr. W. C. Tait on the Birds of Portugal. 79 



that of Wood Pigeons^ Sky Larks, Meadow Pipits, Golden 

 Plover, Lapwings, Stone Plover, &c. 



A I'emarkable circumstance is that many of the species 

 of birds which pass in such thousands in the autumn from 

 north to south do not appear to return by the same route 

 in the spring. It is known that they appear in the south of 

 Spain in the spring, but they do not seem to return north- 

 Mards by the coast of Portugal ; whether they pass further 

 inland I cannot say. It does not, however, appear probable 

 that marsh-birds, at all events, would take the route across 

 the inland Serras. 



In the spring months I have repeatedly and in vain searched 

 for the Aquatic, Sedge, Grasshopper, and Blue-throated 

 Warblers in those marshy localities along the sea-coast where 

 they were so common and certain to be found during their 

 autumn migration. Even the Whinchat deserts us till the 

 following autumn. Col. Irby mentions the departure of the 

 Whinchat in September, and its return to Gibraltarin the spring. 

 It would be interesting to trace it on its way back to the 

 north of Europe by a route different to that by which it came. 



The sea-birds and Waders and a few land species return 

 north along the coast. 



Graminivorous birds. Goldfinches, Linnets, Serin Finches, 

 and Greenfinches, many of which are found here all the year 

 round, and of which larger numbers than are generally 

 supposed migrate south during the autumn months, return 

 northwards through Portugal in the spring ; yet they take a 

 rather more inland line than they do Avhen migrating south- 

 wards. This is well known to the bird-catchers. 



Palmen mentions that in a few localities it has been re- 

 marked that certain birds appear only in the autumn ('Zug- 

 strassen der Vogel,-' pp. 18, 28, and 37), and attempts to 

 account for this in a manner not satisfactory to my mind, 

 when his arguments are applied to marsh-birds. On the west 

 side of the Iberian peninsula it is only along the coast that 

 suitable resting-places for these birds are to be met with, and 

 in these we should expect to meet with our autumn visitors 

 during the spring also, but they do not appear. 



