THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 695.— May, 1899. 



EARLY SPRING MIGRATIONS. 

 By John Cordeaux, F.R.G.S., M.B.O.U. 



The spring movements, or the passing out, of birds such as 

 winter in these islands, as all observers on the east coast are 

 aware, is far less in evidence than are those great and continuous 

 inrushes in the autumn, extending over days, weeks, and months, 

 and arresting attention by their very magnitude and persistence. 

 In the vernal movement, or emigration, there is rarely anything 

 to attract notice, for it seldom happens that flights of birds are 

 seen actually leaving the shore ; all the chief phenomena probably 

 occurring in the night time, or at such a height as to be invisible 

 to our eyes. 



That great movements are in progress is suggested by the 

 larger flights of various species which in the early spring con- 

 gregate in the coast districts — here one day and gone the next — 

 and having their places taken by other flocks presumably coming 

 from more inland localities, all bent on leaving the country ; for 

 it is now a proved fact that, as a rule, birds emigrate from the 

 same section of coast as witnessed their immigration, only in the 

 reverse direction. 



In this north-east corner of Lincolnshire, bordering the sea, 

 the most obvious and perhaps the best marked spring move- 

 ments are in connection with the Thrushes (Turdus). By the 

 end of February, excepting such as are resident and nesting, the 

 Zool. 4th ser. vol. III., May, 1899. o 



