MIGRATION AND FLIGHT. 95 



of some miles, and then turned loose. In three days it 

 was again found in the greenhouse. 



One other peculiarity in the periodical visits of birds 

 to their breeding stations, is the punctuality of their 

 arrival. There is seldom the difference of a week, and 

 frequently not that of a day, in the time of the appear- 

 ance of some particular species. Of course we cannot 

 be accurate in most cases, from not being able to fix on 

 the exact moment of a bird's arrival; but, in some in- 

 stances, circumstances afford us the means of speaking 

 more positively. Thus, on a well-known rocky island, 

 called the South Stack, near Holyhead, the lighthouse 

 keepers assured us that the Gulls, which seldom visit 

 the island for two-thirds of the year, arrive on the same 

 night, namely, February 10th, for the purpose of breed- 

 ing. They are regularly warned of the arrival of their 

 summer guests, about midnight, by a great noise, as ife 

 were a mutual greeting and cheering; and from that 

 moment they remain till their broods are reared, and 

 the business for which they resorted thither entirely at 

 an end. 



The light-keepers spoke with pleasure of the arrival 

 of the birds, saying that they looked to their return as 

 that of so many old acquaintances after a long absence, 

 announcing the spring to be at hand, and the winter to 

 be over and gone. 



In alluding to light-keepers, we may mention a curious 

 circumstance connected with birds of passage, namely, 

 that during their migrations in the night, they frequently 

 fly with such force against the strong plate-glass refleo 

 tors of light-houses, as to be killed on the spot. In- 

 stances of this have occurred at Flamborough Head, 

 where, we have been informed, that Ducks, Woodcocks,, 

 Starlings, Fieldfares, Redwings, and in short every 

 species of the migratory tribes, have fallen victims to 

 the attractive but unintentional decoy. The astonishing, 

 number of seventeen dozen of Starlings were, at the- 

 latter end of 1836, picked up near the above-mentioned! 



