282 REPORT— 1902. 



climatic conditions. The usual period for their appearance in their 

 summer haunts is about the last week in February and early in March, 

 and should severe weather follow later in March, then many perish in 

 the more exposed areas. The Scilly Isles are quitted as a winter resort 

 by the middle of February in ordinary seasons. 



Immigrants occasionally appear in Orkney at the end of February, 

 but this is exceptional, for the summer visitors to these islands do not 

 usually arrive before March, and in some seasons the date of their first 

 appearance is not chronicled until the early days of April. The return 

 to Shetland is usually timed from mid-March onwards ; but immigratory 

 flocks have been recorded as early as March 3, and the Hebrides ai"e 

 Bought during late February and early March. The spring movement 

 is a gradual one, and nothing of a general nature is observed. 



Sj^ring Immigration from. Southern Europe. — The return of the 

 Lapwings which departed from our islands in the autumn and winter 

 only occasionally comes under notice at the light-stations and elsewhere 

 on the south coast of England. Fortunately, however, we possess some 

 important records of these spring immigrations for the latter half of 

 March, when the Lapwings have been observed returning in company 

 with Wheatears, Mistle Thrushes, Fieldfares, Blackbirds, Starlings, and 

 other species. The chief of these cross-Channel return movements were 

 witnessed during the earliest hours of the morning. 



Spring Jieturn to Ireland. — Late in February, during March, and 

 sometimes early in April, Lapwings are observed during the daytime 

 arriving from the S.E. and passing N.W. at the light-stations ofl" 

 the Wexford coast. There is no special reason for regarding these as 

 passage movements, and, taken together with the facts, (1) that they are 

 not observed proceeding up the eastern coast line northwards, and 

 (2) that during winter Lapwings are recorded as passing southwards on 

 the extreme southern sections of both coast lines, it is not improbable 

 that some of these birds quit Ireland under the pressure of climatic 

 conditions and return in the spring. 



Sjjring Passage Nortlnoard and Emigration to Northern Europe. — 

 The spring passage northward to British and Continental breeding 

 haunts is one of the best observed phases in the ordinary seasonal 

 migrations of the Lapwing. It is witnessed on both the east and west 

 coasts and in the northern islands. 



In some years a few are seen, even at northern stations, on passage at 

 the end of February, and many have occasionally been observed during 

 the latter half of the month and at the beginning of March, but these 

 early transient migrations are dependent upon the genial nature of the 

 season. The movements are regularly observed during March and are 

 much in evidence until about mid-April, after which stragglers only are 

 observed.' 



The numbers observed en route are only occasionally described as being 

 considerable, and, as a rule, consist of flocks or small parties, observed at 

 widely scattered stations, there being no general or simultaneously per- 

 formed movements. 



These birds of passage move dyring the night, and in the daytime 



' On May 3, 1885, a great rush of birds of passage was observed at the Isle of 

 May, at the mouth of the Firth of Forth. The species recorded included Fieldfares, 

 Redwings, Ring-ousels, Blackbirds, Pipits, Redbreasts, W}iinchats, Redstarts, Pip4 

 piyc^tchprs, Ortolan Bunting, and spme Lapwings. 



