January 



IT would be scarcely possible for any month to present 

 such a violent contrast with itself in different years as 

 we have witnessed between January 1895 and Bird- 

 January 1896. It will be long before the Migration 

 Arctic cold of the former will fail to be traced in its 

 effects on trees, plants, and even animals; and its 

 influence on the range of annual bird-migration was 

 very well marked in the case of some species. 



This periodic movement of bird-life, its motive and 

 degree, has been the subject of close attention of late 

 years. A committee of the British Association supplies 

 forms to be filled up by the keepers of lighthouses all 

 round our coasts, on which returns are made, showing 

 at what dates and in what numbers the different 

 species pass to and from their breeding - grounds. 

 From the mass of information thus accumulated, some 

 new and unforeseen conclusions have been come to. 

 The old rigid division of British birds into migratory 

 and resident species has been shown to be untenable, 

 for it has been proved that nearly all birds change their 

 quarters according to the season ; and perhaps the only 

 one which can be said to be strictly and constantly 



