88 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



of about two hundred, apparently all males, in a stubble-field 

 near the sea-coast. The stomachs of two examined by us were 

 filled with the husked seeds of the common charlock. 



A most noticeable feature of the autumn migration was 

 the number of large birds of prey seen in districts along the 

 east coast. Between the last week in September and the end 

 of October I had notice of eight Ospreys and innumerable 

 Buzzards, the Common and Honey Buzzard the most frequent, 

 and the Kough-legged in a very decided minority. The occasions 

 on which I saw myself large birds of prey during the past autumn 

 were far too numerous to mention ; the last occasions were 

 on December 19th, when I saw a light-coloured Buzzard sitting 

 on a barley-rick within a short distance of our railway station ; 

 and another flew over the house on the morning of January 4th. 

 On September 22nd, wind E., storm No. 9, an immense flight of 

 Common Buzzards passed across Heligoland, thousands passing 

 on, and as many remaining to rest on the sea-cliffs. On the 

 23rd and 24th there were still a great many passing. What was 

 the impelling cause to induce this immense number of Common 

 Buzzards, so early in the season, to congregate simultaneously 

 from all parts of Scandinavia and North-Eastern Europe, and 

 migrate in one vast band to the south ? And how was the signal 

 for departure communicated from one to the other over vast areas 

 of forest and mountain ? 



On October 26th, at Heligoland, from 9 p.m. to midnight, a 

 great many Snow Buntings passed overhead ; on the 28th and 

 and 29th, rain and hail both days, very great numbers ; 30th, 

 a great many; 31st, flights of thousands high overhead; winds 

 easterly, varying to N.W. and S.W. The proportion of old to 

 young birds was one in a hundred. Again, on the 8th and 9th 

 November, thousands and thousands of Snow Buntings and 

 Shore Larks (Otocorys), night and day. Here I saw no Snow 

 Buntings before November 14th, although they may have arrived 

 a day or two previously. From that date to the middle of 

 December they frequented the stubbles in enormous flocks, 

 thousands upon thousands, nearly all young birds, the proportion 

 of old ones being very small. The great attraction which kept 

 them in the neighbourhood was the large quantity of oats 

 which were dashed out in harvest time (from ten to thirty bushels 

 per acre, and in some cases much more) by the high wind on 



