328 MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



of East Lothian, whence a portion of them ultimately find 

 their way to Berwickshire over the Lammermuirs, or along 

 the land which skirts the sea in the neighbourhood of 

 Cockburnspath. 



It has been observed that while thousands of birds are 

 seen on migration at the lighthouses on the Fame Islands 

 and the Isle of May, where the adjoining coasts are low, 

 very few, if any, have been noticed at the lighthouse on 

 St. Abb's Head, where the coast is very high. In clear 

 weather it is probable that the birds pass directly from 

 above the German Ocean into the interior of Berwickshire, 

 and there descend from their lofty flight. In apparent 

 support of the above views with regard to the routes by 

 which birds on migration enter the county, it may be 

 mentioned that the recorded dates of the first arrivals in 

 Berwickshire of some of the typical migrants as given in 

 the following tables have been compared with the corre- 

 sponding dates of their first appearances at the Fame Islands 

 and the Isle of May, and it has been found that in some 

 years the birds were observed in Berwickshire before they 

 were noticed at either of these stations, while in other years 

 they were seen at the Fame Islands or the Isle of May 

 before they were noticed in this county. 



