176 Recent Literature. 



British ornithologists, have set themselves seriously at work in the matter 

 of collecting exact data respecting the movements of birds during their 

 migrations along the coast of Great Britain. Last year printed forms of 

 inquiry and letters of instruction were sent to twenty-six light-houses on 

 the east coast of Scotland, and returns were received respecting the 

 autumnal migration from thirteen ; to thirty-seven on the east coast of 

 England, from which returns were received for twenty-five; to thirty-four 

 on the west coast of Scotland, twenty-four of which sent returns ; in all 

 returns were received from sixty-two stations out of a total of ninety-seven, 

 Such encouraging co-operation gives a hopeful outlook for the further 

 prosecution of the work. Excluding in each case the Natatores, the re- 

 ports from the east coast of Scotland relate to about 28 species ; those 

 from the east coast of England to about 32, and those from the west coast 

 of Scotland to about 30. The information relating to each species is con- 

 nectedly presented for each of the three areas under the name of the species 

 observed, these special reports being followed by a general discussion of 

 the results. Observations made at other points are incidentally incorpo- 

 rated, including Herr Gatke's report from Heligoland. The general drift 

 of the returns indicates a rather unusual scarcity of birds during the au- 

 tumnal migration of 1879 at many of the stations in question, and the 

 results altogether throw very little light, as would be naturally expected 

 by the observations of a single season (the first, let us hope, of a long 

 series), upon the direction and causes of movement. They tend, how- 

 ever, to show what species most frequently come in contact with the light- 

 stations, and under Avhat conditions this occurs, and also the times of 

 passage. It appears that the smaller land-birds are the most frequent 

 sufferers, prominent among which are the Thrushes ; and that their visits 

 are made almost invariably during heavy storms, or in thick, foggy, or hazy 

 weather. As in the case of returns received by Mr. Deane, and reported 

 upon in the earlier pages of this number of the Bulletin, the inability of the 

 reporters always to identify the species seen, detracts in some degree from 

 the value of their reports. 



While we ai-e perhaps a little wiser than were the ancients in respect to 

 the causes of migration and the routes pursued by birds, the subject is 

 admittedly still involved to a great degree in mystery, and we can scarcely 

 expect much advance in our knowledge of the subject till trained observers 

 bring to bear upon it their united action, or until the records already 

 accumulated by such observers are brought together for comparison and 

 elaboration. We have in this country, for example, scores of well-trained 

 observers, stationed over a great breadth of territory, who every year note 

 carefully and in detail the arrival and departure of the birds at their 

 respective localities ; but till these records are brought together, compared 

 with each other, and collated with the coincident meteorological phenom- 

 ena (taking this expression in its widest sense), can. they yield any very 

 important results. If an ornithological bureau could be established 



