on the Eddystone. 259 
so small, and the occasions on which they appearecTso rare, 
that they do not merit further consideration. 
Daily throughout my visit when the weather was favour- 
able, that is to say when a light wind prevailed, no matter 
from what quarter, the passage of Meadow-Pipits and 
Wagtails was of regular occurrence. The movements were 
performed during particular hours only, commencing soon 
after daylight — i. e. from 6.15 a.m. to 7 a.m. — and were 
entirely over by or before midday. So rigidly were these 
hours adhered to by the emigrants, that I soon found the 
afternoons to be quite unproductive, and consequently I 
regulated my hours of rest accordingly. 
The Meadow-Pipits often passed in small parties, consisting 
of as many as a score, but frequently in twos and threes, 
and sometimes even singly ; while the height of their flight 
varied from twenty feet, or less, above the water to occasion- 
ally as much as two hundred feet, the direction being due 
south. The birds were observed on emigration, in greater 
or less numbers, on sixteen days *, during which vast 
numbers passed close to the lighthouse : the passage being 
on some days continuous between sunrise and midday. The 
greatest movements were chronicled between September 30th 
and October 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 15th. They invariably 
uttered their familiar notes as they flitted by. 
On the same days, with hardly an exception, and during the 
same hours of the morning and forenoon that the Pipits were 
on the move. Wagtails, singly or in pairs — but never more 
than three together, and that seldom — were observed moving 
southwards. The species identified were the Pied, the White, 
and the Grey Wagtail ; but in what proportion I was unable 
to determine, for it was only occasionally that the birds 
were seen under conditions which permitted of their being 
identified with certainty — chiefly when they broke their 
journey, as they sometimes did, and alighted on the reefs at 
low water. These birds generally flew at a comparatively con- 
siderable elevation, seldom below that of the gallery (130 feet), 
* I was 32 days on the rock, and during that period 14 days were 
entirely unsuited for migration, owing to adverse weather-conditions. 
s2 
