264 



Association (which soon obtained the aid of tlie Trinity Board) to investigate and 

 register the phenomena of migration round our coasts (7). Tlie plan adopted was to 

 issue circulars inviting lighthouse-kee)jers to note and forward to the Committee 

 any ]jarticulars of birds coming or going by day or night, and especially of any 

 which accidentally killed themselves by striking against the lanterns. Sometimes 

 as many as 200 liirds in a night are killed on a lighthouse, chiefly land birds ; marine 

 birds seem to have acquired more experience. Starlings strike in the greatest 

 numbers, Woodcocks usually one at a time. I have seen a thick glass window at 

 the Sijurn lighthouse which had been shivered by a Woodcock flying against it 

 ("Migration Reports," 1884, p. 103). Many of the lighthouse men have now 

 become expert in identifying birds, and enjoy registering them. At the close of 

 the year the schedules are sent back to the Committee, who then proceed to 

 tabulate, and, if possible, draw conclusions from them. The annually published 

 volumes containing these deductions are of deep interest to all lovers of birds. It 

 will be my endeavour to select from them what, when laid before you, will 

 furnish a useful conspectus of all known at present on migi-ation.* 



Birds, as a rule it is found, follow the coast-lines in their migrations. One 

 common route is across the Straits of Gibraltar, thence along the western shores 

 of the European continent. Another route leads by Malta and Sicily to the 

 shores of Italy and thence by the Riviera. A third leads over the Alps into 

 Austria and Germany. Birds come across to England either from the North Sea 

 or by the shortest way across the Channel. In the former case they generally fly 

 over and sometimes halt at our own little island of Heligoland,! and there some of 

 the most unexpected captures have taken place, while careful watch has been kept 

 upon all birds which pass over. In a favourable season the number of these is 

 very great. A competent ornithologist, Herr Gatke, fortunately lives there, and 

 science owes much to his observations. Almost all the birds of Europe and 

 Northern Asia migrate more or less, and, says Mr. Seebohm, " we may lay it 

 down as a law to which there is probably no exception that every bird breeds in 

 the coldest regions of its migrations " (8). He too regards migration as " a fact 

 in the history of birds of comparatively modern date." It has often been debated 

 what is the true home of migratory birds, whether the country in which they 

 breed or the land they adopt as their winter quarters. The preponderance of 

 evidence is, Mr. Seebohm thinks, largely on the side of the former theory ; and 

 he adds, "the cause of migration is want of food, not want of warmth. The 

 feathers of a Siberian Jay or a Lapp Tit are proof against any cold " (9). Yet the 

 autumnal emigration from us depends partly on temperature, partly on the 

 period when young birds are able to shift for themselves. Migration usually 



(7). In 1883 the American Ornithologists' Union appointed a similar Committee on Migration. 

 (8). Seebohm's " Siberia in Europe," 1880, p. 224. Chapter xx. in this book contains an 

 excellent account of migration at Heligoland. 

 (9). Seebohm ut sttp, p. 247. 



*These annual volumes have now ceased to be issued, as sufficient observations, it is supposed, 

 have been recorded. A competent ornithologist, Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, is busy in tabulating the 

 facts and drawing deductions from them. Much useful knowledge, it is hoped, will thus be 

 obtained on bird-migration. 



tSince these words were written, on August gth, 1S90, Heligoland was transferred to Germany, 

 under the terms of the Anglo-German agreement respecting Africa (M. G. W., 1892.) 



