H, LYNES: MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 45 



other respects the whole of October and nearly all 

 November kept fine and warm (average noon temp. 

 77° F. to 72° F.), the wind, never more than " fresh 

 breezes," blew from N.E. or N.W., more often the former, 

 and on one occasion only from the southward. 



On November 27th the weather broke up suddenly ; 

 the temperature fell about 8° F., and winter, in the ever 

 varying moods characteristic of that season in the 

 Mediterranean, was ushered in by a succession of strong 

 winds and foul weather from the S.W. 



So that, as far as the local weather went, it may be 

 said that up to the end of November the weather con- 

 ditions were entirely propitious to migration — after that 

 date the reverse. 



It might perhaps be supposed that with such favour- 

 able and regular weather conditions throughout 

 (practically) the whole of the migration period, the flow 

 of migration would have been equally regular, but such 

 was not indeed the case. 



Throughout the whole period, even when migration was 

 at its greatest intensity, the number of arrivals varied 

 greatly from day to day. The migrants came in diurnal 

 waves, sometimes a day, or even several days in succes- 

 sion would go by with a small wave, and then the next 

 day there would be a large one, when migrant arrivals 

 would simply swarm everywhere. By 8 a.m. any day 

 one could say " it is a good migration day " (or a bad one), 

 though nothing but the presence or absence of the birds 

 themselves was there to enable such a fact to be stated. 



All this only brings out what is, I think, generally 

 accepted, and what it is only reasonable to suppose, viz., 

 that it is mainly to the weather conditions at the point 

 of departure for the migration flight, that one must look, 

 in order to realise what the birds are going to do. 



Now Port Said notably enjoys much more halcyon 

 weather during the autumn months than Crete, Cyprus, 

 Asia Minor, and even than Alexandria only 150 miles 

 distant ; and an inspection of the actual weather 



