10 STUDIES IN BIRD-MIGRATION 



We now approach the East-to-West flights, which 

 are certainly the most interesting of the migra- 

 tions observed, and are also the main diurnal over- 

 sea movements regularly witnessed on the British 

 shores. 



The lightship, I found, occupied a central position 

 amid this great feathered stream, since the vast 

 majority (90 per cent, or more) of these migrants were 

 moving direct from east to west, while others flew to 

 the south-south-west and north-west. At stations off" 

 the Norfolk coast their chief line of flight is to the 

 north-west, off the Lincolnshire coast to the north- 

 north-west, while off the east coast of Kent it is to 

 both west and south - west.^ On certain days, when 

 general movements are in progress, these flights have 

 often been known to cover the entire coastline be- 

 tween the Humber and the Straits of Dover. 



On arriving on our shores many of these immigrants 

 proceed inland and settle down for the winter, while 

 others traverse the south coast and cross St George's 

 Channel to winter in Ireland ; others, again, cross the 

 English Channel en route for Southern Europe. 



Owing, perhaps, to the unexpected spell of summer 

 weather that characterised the latter half of September, 

 and to the high and uniform temperatures which pre- 

 vailed then and during the first week of October, the 

 east- to- west movements of the autumn of 1903 were 

 very slightly in evidence in the earlier days of my 

 residence on broad the lightship. During the period 

 indicated only a few Skylarks, Tree- Sparrows, Swallows, 

 Meadow- Pipits, and single Starlings were seen. The 

 night movements of waders, however, appeared to be of 



' For general information on these lines of flight, see Vol. I., pp. 83-87. 



