OCTOBER 201 



are undoubtedly immigrants. Such unlikely birds 

 even as jays have been known to reach our shores in 

 large numbers. The movement is in general terms 

 from the north-east, for one must remember that the 

 winter not only in Scandinavia but also in northern 

 Germany is much more severe than our own. 



A thick, close night without a moon, at any time 

 after the twentieth of the month, never fails to bring a 

 rush of migrants, and there is no more favour able locality 

 for observing the phenomenon than the cliffs of the 

 Yorkshire coast. All night long the light-house acts 

 as a magnet. A crowd of feathered wayfarers emerges 

 from the gloom to flutter moth-like in the dazzling 

 rays, some to pass on, others to beat and buffet them- 

 selves against the glass. Wild-ducks have been 

 known to come with such force as to crash right 

 through it. Out of the darkness one hears on all sides 

 the single " gluck " which is the call-note of the red- 

 wing. The first gleam of daylight shows that the 

 skylarks are still coming in from the sea in thousands, 

 and, as the sun breaks through the mist, goldcrests 

 are seen swarming all over the cabbages in the light- 

 house keeper's garden, tiny wanderers who have braved 

 the North Sea passage of three hundred miles while 

 one would suppose that a flight into the next parish 

 represented the limit of their powers. A fisherman 

 who is early astir finds a tired woodcock sheltering 

 under the side of his boat ; others have dropped into 



