Oil Migration. 551 



the hand, having apparently no further strength left for self-pre- 

 servation, is the greatest proof I ever saw of such utter prostra- 

 tion after a prolonged journey : but similar accounts are con- 

 stantly given by those who have witnessed on our eastern coasts 

 the arrivals from Northern Europe. Vast numbers, too, un- 

 doubtedly perish in the sea, unable to prolong their flight when 

 adverse winds have buffeted them beyond their powers of endur- 

 ance ; so that though they must depart when the restless spirit 

 of migration seizes on them in spring and autumn, it is a perilous 

 path which they are pursuing, beset with many difficulties and 

 dangers, and oftentimes a fatal path which only leads to a watery 

 grave. The great bulk, however, of our migratory birds does, I 

 suppose, succeed in the enterprise, and arriving here from the 

 South, or departing hence for the North, all are busy during the 

 six months of spring and summer with their nurseries, and then 

 the return journeys are entered upon, when in most cases their 

 numbers are much increased by the vast flocks of young which 

 accompany their parents. 



These few preliminary remarks on the great subject of migra- 

 tion are only intended to introduce a table of our Wiltshire 

 migrants, which may be looked for at their respective dates every 

 year. In preparing this table, and in assigning specified days for 

 the arrival of each species, I have taken considerable pains to 

 arrive at as correct a date as possible, first by careful examination 

 of the notes which I have kept as accurately as I could during 

 the last thirty-five years, both at Yatesbury and at Old Park ; 

 and then by comparing them with similar tables, put forth by 

 other observers in other localities, both within this county and 

 outside it. When I add that in the case of many of the more 

 favourite migrants, I have no less than fifty such tables lying 

 before me, it will be seen that the dates which I assign are not 

 mere guess work, but are corrected by the experience of many 

 other observers similarly employed with myself. It is obvious 

 that these dates of arrival vary with forward and backward 

 seasons, as was to be expected ; but by adding the earliest and 

 latest days on which their first appearance has been recorded in 



