264 REPORT— 1886. 



Report of the ConiTnittee, consisting of Mr. John Cokdeaux (Secre- 

 tary), Professor A. Newton, Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brow'N, Mr. 

 William Eagle Clarke, Mr. R. M. Harrington, and Mr. A. 

 G. More, appointed for the purpose of obtaining {with 

 the consent of the Master and Brethren of the Trinity House 

 and the Commissioners of Northern and Irish Lights) observa- 

 tions on the Migration of Birds at Lighthouses and Lightvessels, 

 and of reporting on the same. 



The General Report of the Committee, of which this is an abstract, is 

 comprised in a pamphlet of 173 pages,' and includes observations taken at 

 lighthouses and lightvessels, as well as at several land stations, on the 

 coasts of Great Britain and Ireland and the outlying islands. 



The best thanks of the Committee are due to their numerous ob- 

 servers for their assistance. Much good work has been rendered by 

 those amongst them who have taken the trouble to forward a leg and 

 wing of such specimens as have been killed against the lanterns, and 

 which they have themselves not been able to identify. This has already 

 led to the determination of several rare birds, which otherwise would 

 have escaped notice. It is evident that unless the birds can be correctly 

 named the value of this inquiry is materially diminished, and ornitho- 

 logists may justly refuse to accept the accuracy of the statements. It is 

 intended, in order to facilitate the sending of wings, to supply the light- 

 keepers with large linen-lined envelopes, ready stamped, and enclosing 

 labels for dates and other particulars. 



The best thanks of the Committee are also tendered to Mr. H. Gatke 

 for the increased interest he has given to their report by forwarding a daily 

 record of the migration of birds as observed at Heligoland between 

 January 1 and December 31, with the concurrent meteorological conditions 

 under which the various phenomena occurred. 



Altogether 187 stations were supplied with printed schedules for 

 registering the observations, and returns have been sent in from 125. 

 About 267 separate schedules have been sent in to your reporters. The 

 general results, as far as the special object of the inquiry, have been very 

 satisfactory, and much information has also been accumulated respecting 

 the breeding habits of seafowl on the outlying islands and skerries on 

 the Scotch and Irish coasts, and altogether a great mass of facts and 

 valuable data obtained which cannot fail to be of value to future in- 

 quirers. 



A special point of interest in the report is the large arrival, with a 

 north-east wind, of Pied Flycatchers in the first week in May 1885, 

 observed at Spurn Point, Flamborough Head, the Isle of May, and 

 Pentland Skerries. At Flamborough Head the Flycatchers were accom- 

 panied by male Redstarts in large numbers, both species swarming for 

 two or three days. The immigration at this period was not exclusively 

 confined to these two species. Mr. Agnew, writing from the Isle of May, 

 at the entrance of the Firth of Forth, says, under date of May 3rd — ' An 

 extraordinary rush of migrants to-day ; have never seen anything like it 



' • Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn of 1885.' McFar- 

 lane and Erskine, 19 St. James's Square, Edinburgh. 



