562 Mr. J. D. D. La Touche on thi 



cover is full of robins (blue-throats, ruby-throats and blue 

 robins) and of willow- and reed-warblers. Late in August and 

 in September^ when the crops are ripening, the fields abso- 

 lutely swarm with buntings, and quantities of grasshopper- 

 warblers are found. The wildfowl then appear. In October, 

 rooks, jackdaws^ larks, cranes, bustards, ducks, and geese 

 pass in numerous flocks, and throughout these months birds 

 of prey of all kinds are abundant. 



The spring migration is comparatively less interesting and 

 not so easily followed, as the smaller Passeres do not pass in 

 flocks or streams but suddenly appear in the cover on the 

 island, often to disappear as suddenly. Their descent on 

 Chinwangtao is to a great extent dependent on weather 

 conditions, and a favourable wind or the clearing up of the 

 weather generally drives many species away at once. Thus 

 this spring (1914), which has been unusually dry, was 

 remarkable for the scarcity of warblers, flycatchers, quail, and 

 robius, and these birds must have scattered inland almost 

 immediately on arrival. A Ithough last winter was abnormally 

 mild, I did not notice that birds arrived any earlier than 

 usual. In normal years, the first birds to appear in spring 

 are gulls, rooks, and geese, generally at the end of Febi'uary. 

 The wildfowl then pass, the geese until the middle of April 

 and the ducks until May. In April small Passeres pass 

 in increasing nunabers, and the migration of nearly all the 

 birds, with the exception of the wildfowl, is at its height 

 towards the middle of May. The first small insectivorous 

 Passeres to pass are Ruticilla aurorea, lanthia cyanura, 

 and Accentor montanellus. The latter also winter here 

 in sheltered places. Larks, buntings, and brarablings are 

 abundant during April and also hoopoes and pipits; wagtails 

 and swallows appear during the latter half of the month. 

 During May there are rushes of flycatchers, swallows, 

 sand -martins, robins, pipits, wagtails, warblers, buntings, 

 rosefinches, and quail. The migration continues well into 

 June, but after the end of May, arrivals rapidly diminish 

 and consist chiefly oi LocusteUa certhiola, reed-warblers, and 

 quail {Coturniw and Turnix). Inland, there is not much 



