CHAPTER XXVI 



(l) THE ISLE OF USHANT AS A STATION FOR OBSERVING 

 BIRD-MIGRATION : BIRD-WATCHERS WATCHED ! (2) ON 

 MIGRATORY BIRDS OBSERVED AT ALDERNEY, CHANNEL 

 ISLANDS 



In Europe, Ushant or Ouessant occupies a position 

 second to none as an observatory for witnessing the 

 phenomenon of bird-migration. 



It is an island lying right in the main stream of the 

 feathered flood which annually rushes first north and 

 then south, according to the season, along the coast of 

 South- Western Europe, traversing one of the most 

 important migration routes in the Old World. 



Ushant, however, has a further interest, inasmuch 

 as it is the junction where migrants in spring branch off 

 on their various lines of flight to reach England, or to 

 proceed along our Atlantic and Irish coasts, both shores 

 of the Channel and those of the North Sea en route 

 for their northern summer homes — their native lands. 

 In the autumn it is the station where the same wayfarers 

 and their young reach the western trunk line en route 

 for their southern winter retreats (see map, Plate II.). 



As nothing whatever appeared to be known con- 

 cerning migration at this most promising island for the 



II. 805 u 



