591.52 245 



598.2(42) 



III. 



The MiQ[-ration of British Birds.' 



o 



THE object of this article is to call attention to the results disclosed 

 by the first systematic attempt, on a sufficient scale, to investi- 

 gate the phenomena attending the migratory movements of the birds 

 observed on our coasts. It must be distinctly born in mind that in 

 Mr. Eagle Clarke's Digest no attempt has been made " to deal with 

 the problems connected with the causes of the phenomena, the 

 evolution of the migratory instinct, or other purely theoretical aspects 

 of the general subject," but the aim has been to establish actual facts, 

 from which alone the deductions are drawn. In this respect the 

 Report is rightly said to differ from almost everything which has 

 hitherto been published on the subject. 



In the year 1879 that indefatigable naturalist, Mr. Harvie-Brown, 

 printed in the Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Glasgow 

 an "Ornithological Journal of the winter of 1878-79, with collected 

 notes regarding its effects upon animal life, including remarks on the 

 Migration of Birds in the Autumn of 1878 and the Spring of 1879." 

 Again, in the following year he contributed to the same society a 

 second report, bringing his observations down to the 30th of 

 September, 1880. These two valuable reports referred to Scotland 

 only, but in May, 1880, the scheme was enlarged, and their author, in 

 conjunction with Mr. Cordeaux, published in the Zoologist for that 

 month a " Report on the Migration of Birds in the Autumn of 1879.' 

 In this report Mr. Harvie-Brown contributed the section for the East 

 and West Coasts of Scotland, and Mr. Cordeaux that for the East 

 of England ; they were also assisted on this occasion by a large 

 number of keepers of lighthouses and light-vessels on both coasts. 

 This valuable additional help was due to the liberality of the Elder 

 Brethren of the Trinity House and the Commissioners of Northern 



1 Report of the Committee, consisting of Professor A. Newton (Chairman) 

 Mr. John Cordeaux (Secretary), Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown, Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, 

 Mr. R. M. Barrington, and the Rev. E. Ponsonby Knubley, appointed to make a 

 Digest of the Observations on the Migrations of Birds at Lighthouses and Light- 

 vessels, 1 880- 1 887. Digest prepared by Mr. W. Eagle Clarke and presented to the 

 British Association at Liverpool, 1896. Rep. Brit. Assoc, for i8g6, pp. 451-477. 

 Copies of the Digest may be obtained at the of3&ces of the British Association, 

 Burlington House, W., post-free, at 7d. each. 



