165 



THE SKY-LARK [Alauda arvemts). 



The records of this specie3 were almost wholly derived from light- 

 stations, and those from the south coast were \evy scanty. The only 

 ones that indicated the arrival uf any number of birds were those from 

 the Warner Light-vessel (Hampshire) on the ]3th/14th of February 

 and the S. Foreland Light (Kent) on the 24th/i2otli. A considerable 

 immigration, unrecorded at the lights, took place on the coast of west 

 Sussex on the 2oth, 26th and 27th of March, the birds travelling in a 

 N.E. dii-ection. Smaller arrivtJs were recorded on the Hampshire coast 

 on the 29th of February and on the Kent coast on the 2nd of April, 

 The other south coast records were all of single birds, taken at Hanois 

 Light (Guernsey) on the 21st/22nd and 25th/26th of January and the 

 12th/13th of March and at the Eddystoue Light (Cornwall) on the 

 19th/20th of April. 



On the nights of the 17tli and 29th of January quite small numbers were 

 recorded at the lanterns of Lundy Island North Light and the Skerries 

 Light respectively, but with these exceptions the west coast records of 

 the Sky-Lark for that month were the same as those of the Starling and 

 the two species were apparently frequently travelling in company. 



In the same way those for February and March were very similar, 

 the records covered the same period and the same area, but the indi- 

 vidual records of the Sky-Lark were more numerous than those of the 

 Starling in February though the number of birds would seem to have 

 been rather less, whereas in March both the number of records aud the 

 number of birds in the case of the Starling far exceeded those of the 

 present species, which in addition was only recorded from the Isle of 

 Man and the N.W. coast of Wales. 



In April tlie only west coast records were those of quite small num- 

 bers at the Skerries Light on the night of the 14th and at Bardsey 

 Light on that of the 20th. 



Also like the Starling the east coast movements seem to have been 

 the principal feature of the Sky-Lark's spring migrations. Considerable 

 movements were recorded at intervals between the 11th and 22nd of 

 January at stations between the Kentish Knock and the Wash, tlie 

 direction of flight being apparently to the N.W., while on the 18th a 

 flock was seen to arrive at Yarmouth from over the sea. During 

 February, March and April the Sky-Lark's records were slightly less in 

 number than those of the Starling, but they covered a slightly lon^-er 

 period, viz. from the 8th of February to the 7th of April, and differed from 

 the lalter in several respects. Duiing the period between the 8th uf 

 February and the lolh important movements both by day and night 

 took ]dace in the area between Whitby and the Wash, the records were 

 continuous, the numbers large and the direction of flight towards some 

 point between S.W. aud N.W. In the case of the Starling there were 

 only two isolated records duiing this period. Between the loth aud 



