230 REPORT— 1883. 
Coast of Scotland, the Pentland Skerries, nine, Sunburgh Head, four, 
Bell Rock, three, and Isle of May no less than nineteen ; on the east coast 
of England, Farne Islands, eleven, and after this Flamborough Head, 
Spurn Point, and several of the lightvessels off our south-east coast. 
On the Irish coast the best returns have come in from the Tuscar rock 
on the Wexford coast. This is the extreme south-eastern point of Ireland, 
and the nearest land to the Welsh coast, and seems well situated for 
observations. 
Taken as a whole, and comparing them with reports from the 
' English coasts and elsewhere, it is evident that Ireland lies compara- 
tively out of the track of migrants, and its western stations are espe- 
cially poor. These have, however, much interest in themselves, in the 
notices of the movements and habits of the various seafowl frequenting 
that wild district. 
The entries in the schedules returned to us have, as might be ex- 
pected, special reference to the movements of various species of land- 
birds, yet many observations will be found in the general report, on the 
going and coming of. seafowl, which dwell for a season on the cliffs, 
islands, and outlying rocks off our coasts, their mode of feeding, nesting, 
&c. These are valuable as made by those who actually live amongst 
the birds, and have ample opportunity and leisure to observe their habits 
and report thereon. Thus the presence of the gannet all around the 
coast of Ireland during the breeding season points to the conclusion 
that a considerable proportion of the birds seen do not breed. The 
Little Skellig rock, off the Kerry coast, is the only Irish breeding- 
place of this species, and when visited by Mr. Barrington in 1&80 
there were scarcely thirty pairs nesting there. 
As in preceding years, the line of autumn migration has been a broad 
stream from east to west, or from points south of east to north of west 
and covering the whole of the east coast. In 1880, to judge from the 
returned schedules, a large proportion of the immigrants came in at the 
more southern stations ; in 1881 they covered the whole of the east coast 
in tolerably equal proportions; but in 1882 the stations north of the 
Humber show a marked preponderance of arrivals. Altogether a vast 
migration took place this year upon our east coast, the heaviest waves 
breaking upon the mouth of the Humber, Flamborough Head, the Farne 
Islands, Isle of May at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, and again, after 
missing a long extent of the Scotch coast, at the Pentland Skerries.! The 
Bell Rock also came in for a share, although apparently a much smaller 
one than the Isle of May. The easterly winds prevailed all along our 
east coasts, generally strong to gales, and the succession of south-easterly 
and easterly gales in October, between the 8th and 23rd, occurring as 
they did at the usual time of the principal migration, brought vast 
numbers of land birds to our shores. From the Faroes in the north to 
the extreme south of England this is found to have been the case. 
Although migration—that is, direct migration—on our east coast, 
is shown to have extended over a long period, commencing in July and 
continuing, with but slight intermissions, throughout the autumn and into 
1 The absence of returns, year by year, on the Scotch coast between the Bell’ 
Rock and Dunnet Head, embracing ten important lighthouses, is remarkable, not 
a Single statistic of direct value as regards general migration having, so far, rewarded 
our inquiries. No communications, positive or negative, have been received from 
these stations, except a brief return from Girdleness. 
