THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 859.— January 15th. 1913. 



EOBINS ON MIGRATION OBSERVED AT THE 

 TUSKAR ROOK AND LIGHTHOUSE. 



By Professor C. J. Patten, M.D., M.A., Sc.D. 



The migratory movements of this very familiar and common 

 bird, common in Ireland as well as in England, Scotland, and 

 Wales, seem to be puzzling. Many Robins are said to change 

 their quarters by making overland peregrinations within the 

 confines of the British Isles, but the increase of birds in some 

 districts cannot be explained on those grounds. Here in 

 Sheffield, for instance, there is a marked increase of Robins in 

 the autumn, and although this locality is many miles removed 

 from the sea, there is no reason whatever for thinking that the 

 increase in birds is simply an influx of birds, already resident, 

 from the eastern seaboard of Great Britain — in other words, 

 a westward overland movement comparable to what is said to 

 take place between the mainland and adjacent islands on the 

 western seaboard of Ireland when stress of weather and con- 

 sequent scarcity of food compel the birds to resort to milder 

 climates." Stress of weather may compel Robins, and for that 

 matter, many other species, to seek refuge along the more genial 

 winter climes of the western fringe of Ireland, but this factor 

 alone cannot account for the increase of Robins in winter at such 

 localities. As evidence bearing on this point, I may say that when 

 I was at Clare Island, Co. Mayo, in December, 1910, the weather 



* On the contrary, the weather in the fall of the year in Sheffield and 

 Yorkshire generally is more severe than it is on the east coast. 



Zool. 4th ser. vol. XVII., January, 1913. B 



