180 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



tlie Gull-stream, Oct Kith, large numbers of Sparrows and Linnets 

 going W. ; also on the 24th, 3.30 p.m., flocks 200 yards apart. 

 At the East-side, Nov. 8th, 9 a.m., a flock going E. to W. At the 

 South-sand Head, Oct. 8th, "French Sparrows"; 16th, the same, 

 some settled on board. Time of migration Sept. 29th to Nov. 15th 

 — forty-eight days. During September and October Tree Sparrows 

 usually arrive in North-East Lincolnshire in flocks containing 

 many hundreds. This year has been quite an exceptional one, 

 and only a few stragglers have been seen. I suspect the per- 

 sistence of north-westerly winds in the autumn has driven these 

 and the great body of our immigrants much further southward 

 than is usual. The returns indeed show this to be the case. 



House Sparrow, Passer domesticus — Only once mentioned, at 

 the Gorton, Sept. 28th, 7.50 a.m., large flock going west, males 

 and females. As the female of the preceding is undistinguishable 

 from the male, this entry undoubtedly refers to the Gommon 

 Sj^arrow. We know that the House Sj^arrow is a migrant across 

 Heligoland, t and my own observations on the Lincolnshire coast 

 tend to the same conclusion. 



Starling, Stiirnus vulgaris. — Next to the Lark, the Starling 

 occupies the most prominent position in the reports. It is noticed 

 both north and south of the Humber at seventeen stations : — 

 the Longstone, Goquet Island, Teesmouth, Outer Dowsing, Inner 

 Dowsing, Leman and Ower, Gromer, Newaip, Gockle, Galloper, 

 Kentish Knock, Nore, North Foreland, Goodwin, Gull-stream, 

 East-side, and South-sand Head. Enormous numbers passed the 

 southern stations in October, November and December. Some- 

 times in separate flocks, sometimes mixed with other birds. They 

 crossed at all hours of the day and night, and in all winds and 

 weather. Earliest recorded, Cromer, June iOth, 2 a.m., "quantity"; 

 the Newarp, 7 a.m., on July 4th, going E. to W. ; these were 

 young birds.! Leaving out the earliest dates as referring to the 

 migration of the young, we fincf that the regular immigration 

 on to our east coast commenced on Sept. 22nd, when four were 

 killed against the lantern of the Longstone at 3 a.m., to Dec. 16th 



+ See a letter by Mr. Gatke in ' The Times,' March 31st, 1877, on the " Migration 

 of Sparrows." 



\ This bears out Mr. Gatke's observation in a letter dated Heligoland, 1879, 

 Avhen he says, " Hundreds of thousands of young Starlings from end of June to end 

 of July. Hundreds of thousands of old birds during October, November, and later; 

 young and old strictly divided in their migratio'ns." 



