42 BRITISH BIRDS. 



crowd of people Quails occasionally sprang from the 

 bushes accompanied by cries of ' caille ! ' — ' quaglia ! ' 



" From five o'clock onwards there seemed to be a 

 general movement of the birds to the southward follow- 

 ing the canal. Commencing in a small way, this move- 

 ment increased and appeared to reach its height shortly 

 before sunset, when the air seemed to be full of small 

 birds flying along from 20 to 150 feet high. On re- 

 passing the waterworks trees about seven o'clock just 

 before dark, the only birds I could disturb there were 

 Nightingales and Spotted Flycatchers, all the others had 

 apparently moved on." 



The accompanying diagrams (Figures II. and III.) will, 

 it is thought, give a more or less comprehensive view of 

 the progress of migration of the more notable species that 

 visited the Port Said district throughout the autumn. 



B. Weather and Progress of Migration. 



From the day we arrived at Port Said (August 23rd) , 

 up to the end of September, the sun pursued its daily 

 course unobscured by clouds, light N.N.W. breezes 

 always sprang up in the afternoons, and frequently 

 continued throughout the greater part of the night, 

 making the atmosphere cool and dry, in spite of an 

 average temperature of 81° F. in the shade ; the morn- 

 ings and forenoons were always calm — each day's weather 

 was the pattern for the next, with tropical regularity. 



Very soon after the Autumnal Equinox there came a 

 marked change. The wind, though still never more than 

 a moderate breeze, blew more irregularly throughout 

 the twenty-four hours, and nearly always from N.N.E. 

 or N.E. when it was blowing at all — an alteration which 

 brought a somewhat moister atmosphere, but could 

 hardly be considered to have had any effect upon the 

 migration. 



The first rain, a thunder-shower, fell on October 7th, 

 and there was some heavy rain on October 19th, but in 



