268 



IIEPOIIT— 188-1. 



five li;j;li<vi'SHt'ls, liavinp; no cnmmmiicatloii with cacli other, importing the 

 saiTio cii'cnmstaiu't's, proves the correctness of the observations. 



On the east coast of Scotland Mr. J. A. Harvie-lJrown says that the 

 autumn migration of IH8;{ was pronounced, culminating in a grand rush 

 from October 2Sth to November ',]vA. The heaviest rush of birds, as corn- 

 pared with other years, was observed at the Isle of May on October J iUIi 

 and 14th. Tiiis was with a south wind, although as a rule it is a south- 

 east wind at that point wliich brings the greatest llights. 



In the autumn of 1SS2, on the cast coast of Scotland, the bulk of 

 immigrants arc recorded at the southern stations; in IHhio these coudi- 

 lions were reversed, the bulk being rc(!orded from northern stations. On 

 the east coast of England, in LSM:!, birds a[)pcar to have been vcvy e(iually 

 distributed over the whole ooast-line. Jt will bo gathered from the (leneral 

 Report that the dates of the rushes on the east coast of Scotland were 

 slightly later than (hose on the east coast of England, and that tlie 

 migrations past the more northerly stations in Scotland were in propor- 

 tion later than in the south, and also that the dates of the heaviest ruslics 

 on the east coast iigne fairly with the dates from tnO west coast. 



From the coasts of Ireland Messrs. A. G. More and li. M. Ijarringtou 

 report a decided improvement in filling up the schedules, in some ca.'^os 

 three or four being returned from the same station. Forty-tsvo stations 

 were supplied witli schedules in the spring of 1883 and thirty-five in tlio 

 autumn of the same year, returns coming in from thirty-four, one only 



failing. 



The number of migra,nts in the autumn seems to have been more than 

 A great rush of thrushes (including, probably, redwings), black- 



usual. 



birds, and starlings, took place at the south-eastern and southern statintis 

 between October 25th and November 2nd — dates which agree with tlio 

 great rush on the east coast of England. The migration was particularly 

 marked at the Tuskar rock off' the '.Vexford coast, which is proving itself 

 the best Irish station, and no doubt marks the lino of the chief ])assago 

 from the British coa.st. The bulk of the immigrants appear to arrive on 

 the south-eastern coast of Ireland, excepting such birds as the berniclo 

 goose and snow-bunting, which are mainly recorded from north-western 

 stations, and rarely entered in schedules from the cast or south coast. 



An interesting feature this year is the occurrence of several exam])lcs 

 of the Greenland falcon on the west coast, no less than oicrht having been 

 shot at various points from Donegal to Cork and one Iceland falcon at 

 Westport. 



Independent of tho ordinary notes on migration, the general remarks 

 of the lightkeepers with reference to the nesting of sea- fowl on the islands 

 or outlying skerries are of great interest, and no matter what results arc 

 arrived at from this special inquiry, it is satisfactory to be in correspond- 

 ence with such a number of observers at isolated spots around the coast, 

 and the information supplied cannot fail to be of much interest to future 

 compilers. 



An interesting feature of the autumn migration is the occurrence of a 

 flight of the blue-throated wjxrbler (f7//r/»ec«Za .swec/ca). A single adult 

 with bright-bluc breast was observed at the Isle of May on the night of 

 September 2-3rd. On the east coast of England twelve were obtained, all 

 being birds of tho year, and of the.se nine on the coast of Norfolk, besides 

 about twenty others seen by competent observers. Very few goldcrests, 

 compared with the enormous flights of the autumn of 1882, have ap- 



i 



