208 
MOTACILLID.®:. 
they in adhering to it, that even a shot, fired at an advancing 
party, and the death of more than one individual, cannot in¬ 
duce the remainder to fly in a diflferent direction ; for after 
opening to the right and left, their ranks again close, and the 
progi-ess towards the east is resumed as before. 
“ I have observed that their proximity to the shore, during 
this transit from west to east, seems to depend, in some 
degree, upon the character and extent of the country inter¬ 
vening between the downs and the sea. For instance, in the 
more western parts of the country, between Chichester and 
Worthing, where a flat, maritime district, of considerable 
extent and in a high state of cultivation, lies between the 
hills and the sea, the flocks appear to be less numerous, or 
rather more scattered, and occur at greater distances from the 
coast than in the neighbourhood of Brighton, where the 
downs approach close to the shore, and where the flocks 
appear to become more concentrated. 
“ I am acquainted with a good practical observer, who informs 
me that, in the neighbourhood of Brighton, he has seen 
upwards of a thousand pass in a single morning. The same 
person has witnessed, as well as myself, the arrival of these 
birds from the Continent, in March, on the open coast near 
Hove, between Brighton and Shoreham. 
It is certain that these birds never retrace their course in 
a westerly direction; and that, from this period, throughout 
the entire country the species continues to be comparatively 
but sparingly distributed, until augmented by fresh arrivals 
from the Continent, in the warm days of the ensuing spring.” 
The fact of the migration of this species appears to have 
been recognised formerly, (since Bewick mentions that it is 
believed to migrate towards southern climates in October) and 
to have been since lost sight of. Even Montagu, although 
he states that in winter, in severe weather, they congregate in 
marshes, subject to the flow of the tide, where they may be 
