246 Mr. W. Eagle Clarke—^ Month 
to" 
XVI, — A Month on the Eddy stone : a Study in Bird^ 
migration. By William Eagle Clarke, E.L.S. &c, 
Eoji many years past I have annually made peregrinations to 
favourably situated localities, both at home and abroad, 
during spring and autumn, for the purpose of observing the 
migratory movements of birds. The practical experience 
thus gained has been of incalculable value to me in the 
preparation of the various Reports which I have from time to 
time submitted to the British Association on the subject 
of Bird-migration in Great Britain and Ireland. 
Varied as to time and place and withal successful as 
these numerous e:^peditions have been, yet until 1901 I had 
practically failed to obtain satisfactory knowledge, by direct 
personal observation, as to one of the most important phases 
of the phenomenon^— namely, that of emigration. That this 
should have been the case is not difficult to realize when it 
is remembered that emigration is the movement of all others 
which is performed under conditions of obscurity. Thus it 
is chiefly — and entirely in the case of the majority ot 
species — undertaken during the hours of darkness, so that 
it escapes the notice of all save those few peculiarly 
placed observers, the light-keepers ; and even they, however 
watchful they may be, witness a mere fraction of the move- 
ments that actually take place in close proximity to their 
stations, for it is only under certain meteorological conditions 
that the migrants seek the beacon's light and reveal them- 
selves to the watcher, if there be one ready to watch. 
I therefore determined, if possible, to spend a month in 
such a station for the purpose of perfecting my experience 
in what has long been a favourite study, and in the belief 
that a trained observer, prepared to devote the whole of his 
time to the necessary vigils, mighty even in so short a period, 
during the height of the migratory season, add considerably 
to the knowledge of these important movements. 
It required but little consideration to decide that autumn 
was obviously the best season, that the south coast of 
England was the best section of our littoral on which to 
