430 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



as extraordinary, and (2) as migratory ? Well, as to No. 1, the night 

 of Nov. 4th, 1907, was certainly extraordinary as the greatest Eed- 

 wing-night inland (by their calls in the air) that I ever remember, 

 not only by my own experience, but chiefly by the observations of 

 several of my friends, and over a wide area of this part of the West 

 Eiding {vide 'The Naturalist,' 1908, pp. 17, 18).* The calls during 

 that night were both incessant and continuous, and were certainly 

 abnormal, or otherwise extraordinary. In the same note, however, I 

 partly appear to support Mr. Stubbs's theory by saying (' The 

 Naturalist,' 1908, p. 17) : "But the numbers to be seen in the day- 

 time were trifling compared with those that passed over almost 

 nightly." As to No. 2 (migratory), I think that I was justified in 

 calling it thus from the fact that in this district we chiefly hear the 

 Eedwing at night during its migratory periods. For my own part, I 

 am almost invariably first notified of its arrival in October by its 

 call overhead in the darkness. We may hear desultory calls during 

 the second and third weeks in October, and again in late February 

 and in March, but here it is chiefly during the last week in October 

 and the first week in November that their cries may be heard almost 

 nightly, and sometimes for several hours together on suitable even- 

 ings. Therefore, I think that I am correct in associating their per- 

 sistent cries at that season of the year with the immigratory move- 

 ments which we know to be in progress then. They are most 

 frequently heard on still dark nights, especially if the weather should 

 be misty or damp. 



Finally, I may say that I do not consider the periodical call of 

 the Eedwing in the evening to be at all equivalent to the cries of 

 larger birds over a well-lighted town on a foggy or very misty night. 

 I well remember the cries of various waders, ducks, &c., during a 

 dark foggy night at King's Lynn when I was residing there twenty 

 years ago, and how I stayed in the streets all the night until day- 

 light endeavouring to trace the migration, as I thought it was at the 

 time. But immediately the street-lamps were turned out (fully half 

 an hour before any sign of dawn) the calls of the birds ceased, and 

 the birds themselves disappeared. Thus when daylight came I did 

 not see a single bird, although for many hours together I had been 

 listening to a perfect babel of bird-voices overhead. My supposed 

 migration was merely my first experience of a great crowd of birds 



* In Yorkshire, thanks to the good services of the Yorkshire Naturahsts' 

 Union, members are able to meet together from different parts of the county, 

 and to compare notes. 



