Migration 



MIGRATION. 43 



Oct. 1870. Thousands of Great Tits. 



Feb. 1876. Tens of thousands of Sky-Larks. 



Jan. 1878. Countless numbers of Fieldfares. 



Dec. 1879. Millions of Red-throated Divers. 



Sept. 1880. Thousands of Siskins. 



Nov. 1880. Thousands of Shore-Larks. 



Sept. 1881. Immense flights of Common Buzzard. 



Oct. 1881. Thousands of Snow-Buntings. 



Countless numbers of Hedge-Sparrows. 



Oct. 1882.] Thousands of Jays. 



Myriads of Goldcrests. 



Sept. 1883. Enormous number of Redstax'ts. 

 The casual visitor to Heligoland, who frequents the Restaurant to enjoy the oysters 

 and the lobsters, or rows across to Sandy Island to bathe on the shore and take a con- 

 stitutional on the dunes, seldom sees much migration. Now and then a flock of Waders 

 may be detected hurrying past ; flocks of Pipits or Wheatears occasionally land on the on Heligo- 

 island, feed for an hour or two, and then pass on ; and sometimes a scattered and straggling 

 stream of Hooded Crows, of heavy and laborious flight, will continue all day long. Most 

 birds migrate by night ; very few come within sight of the island, and of those that do, not 

 one in ten thousand stops to rest. Every flock which passes over probably drops a few 

 tired or hungry birds, and after a migration-night a walk through the potatoe-fields in the 

 early morning is most curious and interesting. The variety of species, and the incongruous 

 way in which they are mixed, is quite startling. The potatoe-fields are practically the only 

 cover on the island ; and all sorts of birds seek this shelter in which to feed, to rest, or to 

 hide. Perhaps the first bird you flush is a Sky-Lark ; the report of your gun may start a 

 Golden Plover or a Jack Snipe ; then, may be, you see some small birds picking insects off 

 the potatoe-leaves, and you presently secure a Little Bunting, an Aquatic Warbler, and a 

 Shore-Lark. Your next shot may be a Corncrake, followed by a Ring-Ouzel, a Richard's 

 Pipit, or a Teal. Then perhaps a Great Spotted Woodpecker or a Short-eared Owl 

 attracts your attention. You can scarcely take a step without putting up a bird of some 

 species. But every night is not a migration-night. Sometimes day after day, for a week 

 or more, you may diligently tramp the potatoes without finding a single bird. Migration 

 is a question of wind and weather. By long experience the Heligolanders know when to 

 expect an arrival of birds ; and on favourable nights they watch by their " throstle-bushes " 

 to secure their game. There are scarcely any trees on the island, so the peasants make 

 artificial bushes, with a net on one side, into which the poor Thrushes are driven 

 with sticks and lanterns as soon as they alight. Some hundreds are thus frequently 

 caught in one night. The islanders describe with great gusto the impetuous arrival 

 of the birds. On a sudden, without a moment's warning, a rush and whirl of wings 

 is heard, and the throstle-bush swarms with Blackbirds and Thrushes, not dropped, but 



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