On the Little Chill (Lams minutus) in North Vist. 107 



ground it met with on its course (vide " Migration Eeports, 

 General Eemarks, especially 1882," pp. 53, 63, 69). 



I have, I think, before this made the remark that in the 

 event of any Ornithologist or sportsman shooting specimens 

 and recording the occurrences of rare species of birds upon 

 our coasts, or in any of our British Counties, not only should 

 the date and locality of the specimens be carefully recorded 

 and the latter described, but also — and this, now-a-days, is 

 really the most important item in the connection — the state 

 of the weather for the two or three or more days previous 

 to its first appearance, and at the time of its capture, the force 

 and direction of the wind — if possible both npper and lower 

 currents — and the state of the birds' health, whether starved 

 and thin, or plump and in good condition. The items could 

 easily be noticed at the time, and if recorded would, before 

 long, accumnlate and greatly assist students of migration. 

 Another point is that, when birds are so observed, it should 

 be noted whether they appear to be pursuing a migration at 

 the time, or whether they are resting or feeding, and whether 

 solitary or in a flock ; and the direction of flight, if actually 

 on migration, should be carefully recorded, and also the age 

 and sex of the specimens obtained. 



I would like to impress the importance of recording these 

 data upon our British Ornithologists, and others who obtain 

 or record rarities in future. If such records had been kept, 

 say since 1843 (the date of the publication of the 1st volume 

 of the ''Zoologist"), what an immense mass of really valuable 

 matter would have been accumulated in the forty-two volumes 

 of that periodical alone, not to speak of others of our Scientific 

 Serials and Proceedings of Scientific Societies. I believe it 

 would not be too much to say, that had this been done, and 

 pursued upon an uniform and scientifically correct basis, the 

 great mystery of migration would have been solved long ago. 

 If, owing to want of experience hitherto, we have failed to 

 record the most important points in connection with the 

 occurrences of rare birds, at least let us not in future fail in 

 this respect ; and let any one who has a rare bird or butterfly 

 or other insect foreign to our British Fauna to record, never 

 after this forget that the record is imperfect unless accom- 



