120 -Mr. W. Eagle Clarke — Bird-migration 



movement of birds that I have ever witnessed. It set in at 

 8 a.m. with a conspicuous passage of Starlings, Skylarks, and 

 Tree-Sparrows. By midday it had assumed the nature 

 of a " rush/' which Mas maintained without a break until 

 1 p.m. It was a remarkable movement in many ways. Sky- 

 larks, Starlings. Chaffinches, and Tree- Sparrows not only 

 passed westwards in continuous flocks, but many of these 

 companies consisted of hundreds of individuals. So numerous 

 were the Starlings composing some of these bands that when 

 first observed in the distance they resembled dark clouds, 

 and formed a conspicuous contrast to the leaden, white- 

 crested, billows. The elements contributed to the singularity 

 of the scene. The weather, which had been fine up to 9 a.m., 

 rapidly changed, and by noon it had become, in nautical 

 parlance, a " dirty day " — a character which it maintained 

 to the end. The rain, which fell steadily at first, became 

 a downpour, and finally torrential. Indeed, so rain-laden 

 did the atmosphere become that it was necessary to sound 

 the fog-horn, the hideous yells of which added a weird 

 accompaniment not out of harmony with a scene which, 

 apart from its interest to a naturalist, was dismal in 

 the extreme. The wind, too. had been gradually rising, 

 and by 3 p.m. had increased to a "strong breeze" with 

 a velocity of 31 miles an hour. There were squalls at 

 intervals which lashed the rain against one's face with such 

 violence as to cause the skin to tingle for a considerable 

 time. How the migrants braved such a passage was truly 

 Mirprising. How they escaped becoming waterlogged in 

 such a deluge of wind-driven rain was a mystery. Yet on 

 they sped, hour after hour, never deviating for a moment 

 from their course, and hugging the very surface of the 

 waves, as if to avoid as much as possible the effects of the 

 high beam wind. It was surely migration under the maximum 

 of discomfort and hardship, indeed under conditions that 

 approached the very verge of disaster for the immigrants. 



It is probable that the birds would not have quitted the 

 Continent had these later conditions prevailed at the hour 

 of their departure. That they did not do so is made clear 



