264 TiMEHRI. 



birds throughout the colony. True this prote6lion was 

 originally given on the idea that the summer months 

 represented the breeding season of tropical species as 

 well as of those of the co'der latitudes, a conclusion that 

 we know is by no means in accordance with all the fafts 

 of the case. 



It is worth noting that while great numbers of these 

 species of migrants are to be found on the coast dis- 

 tri6ls during September and 06lober, they gradually 

 thin away — the plovers and yellow-shanks, etc., appa- 

 rently passing on further south, leaving a few strag- 

 glers only behind, while a few forms only, such as 

 the sandpipers and the curlews, remain during the 

 winter months. It is remarkable, too, that those mi- 

 grants that have passed south are not noticed on 

 their return journey along the coast ; and, in fa6l, we are 

 altogether ignorant of the path of their migration north- 

 wards. Possibly it may be along the mountainous tracks 

 of the interior of the colony, or even further west, but 

 we have no fa6ls whatever on which to found an opinion, 

 though the presumption may be made that, in a more 

 dire6t northern flight towards their special breeding 

 grounds, their course may lie across the open ocean. 



It has been already stated that many of these birds are 

 found in large flights, but to judge from the description 

 given of migrants passing southwards over North-western 

 Europe, where at times the sky is blackened by the density 

 of birds in flight, or where the ground in certain parts 

 is really covered by thick clusters, there is nothing 

 here comparable to such sights. True some hun- 

 dreds of birds are occasionally seen together on the open 

 flats, but usually they are met with in small flocks. This, 



