A MONTH ON KENTISH KNOCK LIGHTSHIP 21 



examples of those named were either killed or captured 

 .at the lantern. This was the most important of the 

 night movements witnessed, for some thousands of birds 

 struck the lantern and fell overboard during the ten and 

 a half hours that it was in progress. In this movement, 

 I think, we have most unmistakable evidence in favour 

 of its being, in part at least, an east-to-west migration. 

 It commenced as soon as it was dark, and some of the 

 species participating in it, notably the Rooks, Jackdaws, 

 Chaffinches, Skylarks, and Starlings, had been observed 

 moving in that direction, as long as it was possible to 

 see them in the gloaming — that is to say, down to 

 within an hour, or a little more, of the first appearance 

 of the birds at the lantern. Thus it must be regarded 

 as a continuation westward of the flights witnessed 

 during the day. The presence, too, of the Rook and the 

 Jackdaw, and the entire absence of any essentially 

 northern species, must be considered as favourable to 

 this view. 



These night movements were very interesting to 

 witness, and were novel to me, since they were seen 

 from an entirely new standpoint — namely, from below. 

 Of these new experiences, perhaps the one which im- 

 pressed me most was that, from the deck of a lightship, 

 one realised more fully the terrible loss of life that is 

 involved by these nights at the lantern. Here one saw 

 birds actually falling thickly around, and even heard 

 them dropping on to the surface of the water. Such 

 scenes often lasted for hours — ten and a half hours on 

 the 17th to 1 8th October — and the sacrifice of life on 

 this and other occasions was simply appalling. Some 

 of the victims, indeed the majority, were only stunned 

 or slightly injured, and thus met with a miserable death 

 n. B 2 



