74 



observed many birds performing their autumnal migration ; the 

 Wheatear, Titlark, and Eing Dotterel had been seen in mid- 

 ocean, flying easily against a light S.W. breeze. The number of 

 these migrants increased as on September 1st we approached the 

 Norfolk coast, many of them, as the weather was thick, settling 

 on the ship." Then follows a description of the Bluethroat. On 

 p. 37 Mr. Cordeaux has a note to the effect that in 1869 the first 

 flights of Goldcrests arrived at Spurn on the night of October 

 llth, wind N.W. to N. Again, on p. 70, writing on the migra- 

 tions of the Cuckoo, he states that " much depends on the nature 

 of the season ; a cold backward spring with a prevalence of 

 easterly winds always delays their appearance. A change in the 

 direction of the wind about the second or third week in the month, 

 from N. or E. to S. or S.W.,is certain to bring them northward." 



His notes on the arrival of the Woodcock are particularly 

 interesting. On p. 123 he remarks : " With the prevailing winds 

 off the land in October from S. to W., it is never a great 

 Woodcock season on this coast, but strong winds blowing any- 

 where from the opposite quarters, from S.E. to N.W., and better, 

 thick, foggy, or drizzly weather accompanying these winds, are 

 invariably highly favourable to an abundant arrival of ' cocks ' 

 along the eastern seaboard. The stronger the wind and the 

 wilder the weather from these quarters, the greater, as a rule, the 

 number of birds that may be found. It does not follow, however, 

 that these winds are the most favourable for the passage of the 

 Woodcock ; I am inclined to think the reverse is the case, and that 

 we shall find that the most favourable circumstances for their 

 crossing, as well as our other autumn visitors, are clear weather 

 and moderate winds from the W. or S., and that a long flight is 

 best kept up, and easiest sustained, either against a head wind 

 or one a ' few points free.' The fact that Woodcocks are always 

 most numerous at the period of migration on this coast during 

 the prevalence of strong north or easterly winds, shows that these 

 soonest exhaust their powers of flight, causing them to drop 

 directly they make land, instead of proceeding, as they doubtless 

 would have done, with a fair head wind, directly forward to 

 their winter quarters." 



The above passage also throws some light on the height at 



