ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 687 
Another very interesting feature is the occurrence of the Arctic blue- 
throat in considerable numbers between September 8 and 18; eighty 
to one hundred were observed in one locality on the Norfolk coast on 
the 12th. 
The migration of the gold-crested wren was very pronounced. The 
first are recorded on August 28, and after this at various stations up to 
_ November 22. 
Tt is rather remarkable that, with one exception (gold-crests seen 
inland in North-east Lincolnshire, on November 22, which may have 
arrived at an earlier date), the migration of this small species on the 
east and west coasts of England commenced at the same date, August 
28, and also ended on the same date, November 16. 
On the night of October 4, the time of the total eclipse of the moon, 
during the hours of greatest darkness, between 9 and 12 p.m., as observed 
by a member of the Committee,! gold-crests were striking the lantern of 
the Isle of May hghthouse. There is evidence also of other rushes of gold- 
crests at some of the Scotch stations during the hours of the eclipse. On 
the Irish coast the same night, at the South Maiden’s lighthouse twenty 
struck at 10 p.m., and at Rathlin Island lighthouse the same number 
were taken at midnight. 
Pied flycatchers arrived in large numbers from August 16 to Sep- 
tember 17. Across Heligoland also there was a great migration between 
the same dates. 
Reference is also made in the report to the great arrival of this 
species during the first week in May, 1885, observed at stations ranging 
from Yarmouth to the Pentland Skerries. At Flamborough the fly- 
catchers arrived with a N.E. wind, and were accompanied by male red- 
starts. In their next report the Committee hope to be able to give full 
details of this remarkable immigration. 
Immense numbers of ring-doves are shown to have crossed from the 
Continent between October 21 and the end of November. This immigra- 
tion appears to have covered the coast between Berwick and Yarmouth ; 
on our northern coast, for nine days, between November 20 and 28, the 
rush was continuous. Large numbers of stock doves also crossed during 
the same period. 
The main body of woodcocks generally arrive in two flights, known 
to east-coast sportsmen as the ‘first flight,’ and after this the ‘great 
flight.’ In the autumn of 1884 the immigration of this species was most 
prolonged, commencing on September 1, and continuing onward to 
January 20, 1885, or 142 days. Four distinct rushes or flights are indi- 
cated : October 5 and 6, another on the 10th to the 16th, a third, probably 
the ‘great flight,’ on the 28th; and again a very large flight between 
November 11 and 13—a flight which also extended very far north, to 
the Pentland Skerries. The dates of the chief flights across Heligoland 
will be found to correlate very closely with the arrivals on the east coast. 
Very few woodcocks are recorded from the west coast of England. The 
notes, however, taken from October 8 to 14, at the Nash Hast Lighthouse 
in the Bristol Channel, on this species are very interesting. The mean 
_ time of arrival may be fixed at 3.30 a.m. On the 8th a bird, after flying 
round the light, went off in a south-westerly direction. It is fair to presume 
that these woodcocks formed part of the great flight which we know 
1 Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown. 
