392 THE BIEDS OF HELIGOLAND 



quantities in some years again only in large scattered flights 

 while in others it is represented by scarcely more than a few 

 scattered individuals ; and even these cannot be relied on with 

 certainty every year. All this, however, applies only to the autumn 

 migration, for in spring the bird is never met with otherwise 

 than as an extremely isolated occurrence. 



The most astonishing migration en masse of this species which 

 I have ever witnessed took place in the autumn of 1847. This 

 migration, I believe, extended also over the whole of Germany. It 

 commenced here on the 13th of October with from twenty to thirty 

 examples, its numbers increasing daily until, from the 26th of Octo- 

 ber until the 3rd of November, they are recorded as hundreds daily 

 in my diary ; on the 4th and 5th of November, ' countless flocks ' 

 and ' innumerable multitudes ' are noted ; on the 6th, ' fewer than 

 on previous day.' About a hundred each day occurred until the 

 middle of the month, after which time solitary individuals and 

 smaller companies continued to be seen until the middle of February 

 of the following year. On the two principal days above mentioned, 

 the whole island Avas literally covered with these birds, so that one 

 might have thrown a stone in any direction one chose, and it was 

 sure to hit birds as long as it continued rolling along the ground. 



It was in the autumn of this memorable year that the Shore 

 Lark, hitherto so rare on the island, for the first time made its 

 appearance in large numbers, since which time this bird has become 

 a permanent and steadily increasing visitor to Heligoland, and to 

 the west of Europe generally. 



Other FringiUa species appeared at the same time in quite unusual 

 numbers e.g. F. montium, daily in flocks of hundreds ; F. codebs, 

 F.montifringilla, and F.cannabina in countless numbers ; F.spinus 

 also, if less abundantly, still in striking quantity. During October, 

 November, and December 1881, another strong migration of Mealy 

 Redpolls took place, but was not to be compared even approximately 

 with that of 1847 : the phenomenon, moreover, in the last case was 

 peculiar in this respect, that almost all the birds hurriedly passed 

 over the island in large flocks, a comparative few only alighting. 

 We ought to add that when this species makes its appearance in 

 unusually large numbers, both sexes are represented simultaneously 

 in ah 1 ages of life, and in ah 1 stages of plumage. 



The breeding stations of the Mealy Redpoll lie within the 

 Arctic Circle, both in the Old and New World. 



