COURSE OF MIGRATION IN HELIGOLAND 7 



smaller companies from the beginning of the month, joined by 

 solitary examples of the smaller black-eyed relative, the Stockdove. 

 The Water Rail is of common daily occurrence. 



Great flocks of thousands of Hooded Crows, Rooks, and Jack- 

 daws may have been seen passing over the island during the 

 whole month, while the migration of Snipe and Blackbirds con- 

 tinues to its latter end. During the last days of the month both 

 the white and red-spotted forms of the Bluethroat have been seen 

 in very rare and solitary instances. 



Among the birds of prey, solitary examples of the Peregrine 

 may be seen almost daily old males of the Merlin also frequently 

 occur, but male Kestrels are less numerous. 



APRIL unfolds a complete change in the phenomena of the bird- 

 life of this island. This is the time of the pretty Ring Ousel, the 

 Yellow Wagtail, the Hoopoe, and the Wryneck. All the gardens 

 are alive with the Willow Wren, the Sedge Warbler, the Lesser 

 Whitethroat, the Blackcap, and large numbers of Redbreasts. Of 

 the Finches, the species Chaffinch, Brambling, and Siskin com- 

 mence their migrations. Hooded Crows and Jackdaws, as well as 

 Song Thrushes, are still abundant, but of Blackbirds only females 

 and birds of the previous year remain, while the migration of the 

 old males of the Common Wheatear is now at its height. Towards 

 the end of the month, if the weather is favourable, old males of the 

 Pied Flycatcher, the Redstart, and the Whitethroat are met with ; 

 the Lesser Whitethroat now gives place to the Willow Warbler ; it 

 the days are warm the first of the Ortolan Buntings and the Tree 

 Pipit make their appearance. The Redshank and the Wood Sand- 

 piper are heard at night, and seen scattered during the day ; these 

 are soon followed by the Green Sandpiper. Of Merlin and Kestrel 

 only solitary males are still met with, soon to be replaced entirely 

 by increasing numbers of female birds. 



MAY is par excellence the month during which the number of 

 birds, in course of their spring migration, reaches its maximum, 

 presupposing of course that the weather is favourable to their 

 occurrence. Among birds of prey there arrive the Hobby, 

 Honey Buzzard, and Sea Eagle ; the Red-backed Shrike is 

 frequently very numerous ; but the Golden Oriole is extremely 

 scarce. The black-backed males of the Pied Flycatcher arrive in 

 great numbers during the first weeks of the month ; about the 

 middle of it, fairly large numbers of the Spotted Flycatcher and 

 solitary examples of the Nightingale appear. The males of the 



Latare (i.e. Laetare) is the following Sunday, the Introit for which is Isaiah Ixvi. 10. 

 Judica is Passion Sunday, Introit Psalm xliii. 7 ; Pcdmarum, Palm Sunday. REV. 

 C. SWAINSON, Provincial Names and Folklore of British Birds, p. 189. TV,] 



