256 Mr. W. Ea-Ic Clarke— A Month 
O' 
up to some extent '^ side on/^ so to speak^ and consequently 
they glanced off either little stunned or quite uninjured. 
These birds did not attempt to remain at the lantern, and 
those which were captured shewed extreme fear. The Red- 
wing, one of the most numerous species present, was very 
shy, and still more so were the Mistle-Thrushes and the 
Fieldfares ; the latter only approached the lantern and did 
not strike. 
That this was a great movement, seen under favourable 
conditions, is evident from the fact that the senior keeper liad 
only once before during his sixteen years^ experience seen 
one of equal magnitude, namely at the Casquets off Alderney. 
The other keepers had not seen anything like it before. 
It appears to have been a far-reaching movement, too ; for 
at the Bishop^s Rock Lighthouse, south of the Scilly Isles 
and one hundred miles west of the Eddy stone, a considerable 
migration w^as in progress at the same time, and Starlings, 
Thrushes, and Fieldfares are recorded as having been captured 
at the lantern. It was not, however, a great night for victims 
apart from Starlings and Skylarks; but had a thick drizzling 
rain replaced the thin veil of haze, the slaughter would, in the 
opinion of the keepers, have been appalling, so numerous were 
the emigrants and so long-continued their passage. 
On the night of October 13th-14th, between 6.50 p.m. and 
2 a.m., a few "^Skylarlvs, "^Starlings, "^Song-Thrushes, *Chaf- 
finches, several Turtle-Doves, and a ^White ^^'agtail were 
observed at or around the lantern. The night was, on the 
whole, starlight and clear, but there were periods during 
which it was overcast, and then it was that the birds ap- 
proached the lighthouse. (Wind E.S.E., gentle breeze.) 
The White Wagtail had not hitherto been detected quitting 
our shores in the autumn. Its occurrence at the Eddystone 
lantern on the nights of the 13th and 14th of October is 
of further interest, since the dates are, I believe, the latest 
on record for the observation of this bird within the British 
area. Both the examples secured were young birds in winter 
plumage. 
