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“This is a most charming book, and should be read by all lovers of 
dbirds. The first chapter is devoted to the course of migration 
throughout the year, beginning with the guillemots, which visit 
their breeding places in thousands at the new year, and skylarks 
and starlings in the middle of ‘January and going through 4 
crescendo movement until May, when fortissimo is reached, followed 
by the diminuendo of June, and again crescendo of July, August, 
and September to the fortissimo of October, diminishing again 
then to the end of the year. In describing the movements in the 
month of May, after enumerating several species, he writes—‘ If 
towards the end of May the weather be specially favourable, most 
of the above-named species pour in in incalculable numbers; 
during the hours of night this great host of wanderers sweeps 
across and past the island without taking rest thereon—some of 
the birds travelling singly, others in smaller or larger groups 
according to the nature of the species—all striving to gain their 
far off homes. After sunrise, however, and during the early hours 
of the forenoon, thousands and tens of thousands of these birds 
break their journey ; some too at sunset, in order to make a few 
hours’ stay on our island. It is, however, absolutely impossible to 
ascertain the manner and method of arrival of most of these 
visitors, even by the most careful observation ; this is specially the 
case with the small song birds and similar species, whose number 
increases with each minute, without one being able to see a single 
bird descending from on high, or shaping its course in any one 
particular direction. Many alight on the fields while itis still dark, 
and are present in their thousands by the time it has become day- 
light ; some, on the other hand, e.g. the bluethroats, arrive shortly 
before sunrise ; others, like the whin and stonechats, arrive only 
after day has fully begun; from this time onward their number 
increases steadily, and in so striking a manner, that by ten a.m. 
all the pastures, fields. and gardens, and even the rubble at the 
foot of the cliff, literally teem with blue-headed, black-headed, and 
yellow wagtails, redstarts, chats, wheatears, whin and stonechats, 
bluethroats, warblers, and reed warblers. The common wheatear 
is specially numerous on the shingle at the foot of the cliff, and 
thousands of birds, notably warblers, lurk among the sbrubs, and 
sand lyme grass on the Dune”’ (a small island close to Heligoland, 
As to October, ‘‘ Throughout the whole of the month, hoode 
crows travel in never euding swarms of hundreds and thousands 
across the island, and for a breadth of many miles, pass both its 
coasts; cloud-like masses of starlings pass at the same time. At 
the beginning of the month, if the weather is favourable, the 
island literally teems with song thrushes, especially during the 
morning hours. The number of skylarks passing during dark 
