THE BIRDS OF PEMBROKESHIRE. 213 



passing birds. Many lists have, in consequence, been received 

 each season since then from the east and west coasts of England 

 and Scotland, and from the coasts of Wales and Ireland, and 

 these, although not so numerous or so perfect as they might be 

 made, have afforded very interesting details respecting the 

 wonderful passage of migratory birds across this kingdom. It is 

 easy to understand the difficulties there must be in the way of 

 rendering these valuable sources of observation yield their full 

 amount of information. One of them has been referred to by 

 the keeper of the lighthouse at Milford, who states that he can- 

 not put down all the birds he sees through ignorance of their 

 names, and suggests that pictures of the birds should be supplied. 

 Some of the lighthouses are rarely visited by birds, being 

 apparently out of the path of passing migrants, or else situated 

 at some little distance from the coast. The phenomenon of 

 migration is witnessed to the fullest extent along the eastern 

 shores of England and Scotland, against which the great wave of 

 migratory birds is chiefly launched when the migratory impulse 

 at the end of summer and beginning of autumn affects the 

 millions of birds which have nested in the north of Europe, and 

 impels them to make their great annual movement towards their 

 winter abodes. Their course then is from E. to W., or from 

 S.E. to N.W., and the second week of October is the period 

 when the greatest multitudes are passing over. The extraordinary 

 concourse of birds which on dark and foggy nights at that season 

 in the autumn besets the lighthouses on the E. coast cannot fail 

 to arrest the wonder of the least observant, and for this reason 

 the lists from the E. coast are fuller and are sent in from more 

 stations than on the W. coast. The great migratory flocks 

 expend themselves to a large extent in the woods and fields of 

 the English counties, and those which still continue their flight 

 on their way to their quarters in Ireland or Brittany, or still 

 further south, are only portions of the great army which invaded 

 our eastern shores. The lesser numbers rob from the pheno- 

 menon something of its wonder, and thus many of the keepers 

 of lighthouses on the W. coasts do not think it worth their while 

 to report the comparatively few birds which throng their lanterns, 

 while some declare (which is, no doubt, the fact) that their lights 

 are altogether unvisited, being out of the course of the birds. 

 But this last cannot be the reason for the absence of reports 



