24 INTRODUCTION. 



Sutherlandshire, where the light is 400 feet above sea level, 

 to Little Ross lighthouse, Kirkcudbrightshire, 173 feet above 

 the sea. 



From the West Coasts of England and Wales they extend 

 from the Bahama Bank lightship to Start Point lighthouse on 

 the Southern Coast. On the Irish Coast they extend from 

 Fastnett, County Cork, to Drusy Island — 40 stations in all — 

 from which valuable reports have been obtained concerning the 

 migration of our feathered friends. 



Though the winter of 1884 was comparatively mild, there 

 were " very large rushes " on the East Coasts of Scotland and 

 England, from the middle of October till the end of the month, 

 day and night. In Scotland, the heaviest rushes were recorded 

 in the middle of November, a vast majority of the birds coming 

 across the stormy North Sea. But the Southern movement 

 to our East Coasts was begun in July, and from then to January 

 there was a steady flow. 



The main body of woodcocks arrived in two large and wide- 

 ranging flights, known as the " first flight " and the " great 

 flight," from October 10th to November 13th — extending from 

 the Nash East lighthouse, in the Bristol Channel, to the Pentland 

 Skerries, in the North of Scotland : they migrated during the 

 night. Supposing they left Denmark at 5 p.m. and travelled 

 across Heligoland, so as to arrive (as they did) at Nash at 

 3.30 a.m. next morning, their rate of speed was 52 miles an 

 hour. Owing to the comparatively mild weather in 1884 the 

 immigration of woodcocks continued over 142 days and nights. 



One of the most interesting migratory features of 1884 was 

 the large arrival of pied fly-catchers along the whole of our 

 East Coast. A great many of these rather rare birds arrived 

 during the first week of May 1885, at stations between 

 Yarmouth and Pentland Skerries. At Flamborough they 

 arrived in a north-east wind, accompanied by male redstarts. 

 The result of this unusual movement was that pied fly-catchers 

 were found nesting in various localities in England and Scotland 

 where they had never previously been seen at any time of the 

 year. The rare Arctic blue-throat also came in some numbers 

 between September 8th and 18th. About a hundred of these 

 handsome and comparatively rare birds were seen in one 

 locality, on the Norfolk Coast, on the 12th. 



