4 REPORT ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



held in New York City, Sept. 26th— 28th, 1883, a Committee 

 on the Migration of Bii'ds was appointed. It is the purpose of 

 this Committee to investigate in all its bearings, and to the 

 fullest extent possible, the subject of the migration of birds in 

 the United States and British North America. The work will 

 not be limited to the accumulation of records of the times of 

 arrival and departure of the different species, but will embrace 

 the collection of all data that may aid in determining the causes 

 which influence the progress of migration from season to season. 

 For example, severe storms, gales of wind, protracted periods of 

 unusually high or low temperature (for the locality and time of 

 year) are among the atmospheric conditions that are known to 

 exert marked effects upon the movements of birds. The opening 

 of the leaves and the flowering of certain plants, with the corre- 

 lative appearance of a multitude of insects, are also among the 

 factors that have to do with the abundance of many species. 

 Hence the careful registration of certain meteorological pheno- 

 mena, and of the state of advancing vegetation from day to 

 day, will constitute prominent items in the record books of the 

 observer. 



" For convenience in collecting and arranging the enormous 

 mass of material which will be accumulated by the joint labom-s 

 of this army of field workers, it has been deemed advisable to 

 divide the vast expanse of territory embraced in the United 

 States and British North America into thu-teen districts, each of 

 which will be placed under the immediate direction of a com- 

 petent superintendent." 



Some time ago we received application from China for 

 schedules and letters of instructions, but as yet we have had 

 no further communication from that quarter. We would be glad 

 to hear of the scheme being started there also. Most of the 

 lighthouse-keepers there are Scotch and English. 



The ordinary papers were sent to thirty stations on the East 

 Coast of Scotland, Faroe, and Iceland, as in former years. 

 Twelve stations on this coast have sent in forty-two schedules 

 out of the twenty-six E.C. stations of Scotland. All returns are 

 much lighter than in 1882, and this is more readily noticed when 

 we compare the numbers of schedules returned from our prin- 

 cipal stations. Thus, from Sumburgh Head we have three ; from 

 Pentland Skerries twelve (three more than in 1882) ; from Bell 



