Spring Migration at Chinwangtao. 561 



Almost incessant winds prevail during a great part of the 

 year, and at Chiuwaugtao itself these are very variable, 

 often shifting all round the compass within a very few hours. 

 From the middle or end of December, according to the 

 prevailing temperature, the bay is frozen over, and the ice does 

 not disappear, even in mild seasons, much before the middle 

 of February. The minimum temperature in winter rarely 

 falls below — 7° Fahrenheit, the mean winter temperature 

 being between 18° in cold winters and nearly 26° for mild 

 seasons, while in summer the mean temperature of July and 

 August ranges from 72° to 75°*5, seldom reaching above 90°. 

 From its somewhat prominent position at the entrance of 

 the Gulf of Liautung, and with only a narrow strip of plain 

 between it and the mountains, Chinwangtao is an excellent 

 place for watching the passage of birds. The island is hardly 

 inhabited, there being altogether but five houses on the cliffs 

 facing the sea, and the cover is just sufficient to induce birds 

 to tarry awhile after landing, and neither high nor thick 

 enough to cause any impediment to the observation of birds 

 on the wing or settled. The autumn migration is the one 

 most easily studied. The birds when bound south appear 

 generally to follow the coast line, and many species may be 

 observed by day, skirting the coast or passing overhead, 

 either over Chinwangtao or not far inland. At that season, 

 wagtails, pipits, larks, swallows, sand-martins, black drongos, 

 rooks, jackdaws, the Oriental carrion crow, swifts, all kinds 

 of Accipitres, cranes, bustards, and innumerable waterfowl 

 may be seen passing by day, sometimes in scattered flocks, and 

 often, as in the case of the smaller Passeres and rooks, in 

 long streams which pass down the coast at no great distance 

 from the sea. The first to appear are curlews and the sea- 

 gulls [Larus ridihundas) some time in July ; then at the end 

 of July and beginning of August, snipe, waders, and many 

 terns fly past. During August and early in September, the 

 millet fields swarm with reed-warblers {Acroceplialus bistrigi- 

 ceps, A. tangorimi, and A. sorghophitus) , while swallows, sand- 

 martins, wagtails, pipits, drongos, swifts, and other birds pass 

 overhead iu numbers. At the port itself on suitable daj s the 



