302 Bird Migration in Solway. [Sess. 



part, large bodies, or constant streams of small parties, so 

 that the merest tyro will notice their movements. Foremost 

 among them comes the Lapwing, whose hosts are immense 

 indeed, but large as they seem, they are very considerably less 

 than they were thirty to thirty -five years ago. I have still a 

 note made so long since as October of 1866 of small flocks of 

 Lapwings passing down Nithsdale for the whole of two con- 

 secutive days. Nothing of that extensive character is ever 

 seen nowadays. A steady migration of the species will last, 

 at most, for only an afternoon. Now and again the passing 

 of a huge flock may be noted. One such that I saw, in 

 October of 1900, literally filled a seven-acre field, and by an 

 easy calculation was estimated to comprise at least 50,000 

 birds. The subdued murmuring voice of such an enormous 

 assemblage was wonderful in the rising and falling sounds of 

 its undertones, and was audible at 300 yards distant. None 

 of the other Waders are so conspicuous during the autumnal 

 migration as the Lapwing is. 



Some of the early October nights are fairly vocal with the 

 calls of passing migrants, amongst which Curlews, Seapies, 

 Eedshanks, Golden Plover, and Dunlin are always largely 

 represented. 



There is nothing strikes the listener so much, as he strains 

 his ears to hear and distinguish the myriad calls that float 

 down to him on a quiet autumn night, than his utter 

 inability to identify more than one - third to one - half of 

 these voices. 



Since boyhood I have heard the calls of almost every bird 

 that nests, or sojourns, in Solway. But let any of us listen 

 to the calls that come down to earth, when a really big 

 migration movement is in progress during the darkness of 

 night, and there is not one of us but will be confounded and 

 humiliated to find that a very large proportion of the sounds 

 cannot be assigned to any known species with certainty. Of 

 course the explanation lies in the fact that birds, when on 

 migration, use notes that are not required at other periods 

 of their lives. We know their notes when feeding, courting, 

 nesting, and roosting, because we have all seen and watched 

 and listened to them at these times. Migration being for the 

 most part carried on high above our heads, and after nightfall, 



