3|anuatp 



IT would be scarcely possible for any month to pre- 

 sent such a violent contrast with itself Bird . 

 in different years as we have witnessed ^sr 8 -* 1011 

 between January 1895 and January 1896. It will 

 be long before the 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 Associa 

 tion 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 con- 

 A 



