IGC Mr. J. L. Bonhote — Migration 



oasy to approacli, tliongh ihis would vary in dogree accordiiio; 

 to tlie species, aiul tliey would spend their wliole time feeding 

 and sleeping. 



At tlie end o£ a £e\v days, generally about a week, tliey 

 would have become exceedingly £at and again take their 

 departure. T could give niany concrete instances of this, bnt 

 tlie following will perliaps be sufficient : — Trin<ia alp'ina and 

 T. camdus : large arrivals on the lOtli Sept. ; birds shot on the 

 21st tliin, very much fatter on the 2Gth, left on the 30th ; new 

 arrivals on lOth Oct. thin. Spotted Redshank (Totämis fuscus) 

 just arrived, thin and gizzard empty. Greenshank (Totanvs 

 canescens) extremely fat on 26th, large decrease of the species 

 ihe following day. Rock-Pipits [Antluts ohscurvs) arrived thin 

 on the 30th Sept., extremely fat on 8th Oct., large decrease on 

 the 9th. Ring-Ouzel ( Turdus torquaUis) first seen on 2'ith Sept., 

 thin, extremely fat on 5th, Gth, and 7th Oct., absent on the 

 8th Oct. Blackbirds {Turdus meruld) very fat on 5th Oct., 

 none seen on Gth and 7th ; fresh arrivals on the 9th and lOth 

 werethin*. Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvialis) and Grey 

 Plover {Squatarola Jielvefica^ on arrival, Sept. 2 Ist, were thin, 

 the former fairly fat by the 3rd Oct. ; and many further instances 

 might be quoted, but the cases given above are sufficient to show 

 that the matter is worthy of close attention. If my ideas be 

 correct, we can at once teil on shooting a biri whether it is on 

 migration and whether freshly arrived or not, and many other 

 deductions will be possible from birds killed when actually on 

 migration at lighthouses or when crossing the sea. To this 

 " fat " question I round one cxception, which however, can be, 

 I think, easily explained. On the lOtli of October I shot three 

 Knots, apparently all fresh arrivals, of which two were thin, 

 while the third was exceedingly fat. I presnme, however, that 

 this tat bird was one which had stayed beliind when the foriner 

 flocks departed on the oOth and had just joined the newly 

 arrived birds ; and as a study of migration always shows us 

 that a few stragglers arrive before the main body and leave 



* There is no doubt that these were fresh arrivals, as they appearerl all 

 over the fields, iu the village gardens, aud along the shore, ■where uone had 

 been seen previouslj. They were aluiost all young males ; I only saw one 

 fehiale. 



