REPORT ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 203 



west coast observers at Tyree and elsewhere. Our observers 

 have not usually reported the direction taken by the migrants, 

 but there are enough data to prove the above lines. It would 

 appear, therefore, that birds when passing from east to west 

 often overshoot the land, and are compelled to turn back upon 

 a new course, according to the direction of the wind. In 

 1878, Mr. W. Boyd (since deceased) wrote regarding the migra- 

 tion in Mull as follows : — " In the month of October I was 

 fishing on Loch Assapol, near Bunessan. Almost every day 

 I saw flock after flock of little birds — Larks, Buntings, Robins, 

 and even Wrens — flying across the loch. All these birds were 

 steering the same course, having apparently come from the 

 outlying Hebrides, via Tyree, lona, up the Rose of Mull, and 

 were steering for the mainland. Fresh arrivals of different 

 species of Ducks rested and then passed on. Wild Swans and 

 Geese were seen far up in the air, all taking a bee-line for the 

 south." On another occasion Mr. Boyd visited Tyree in 

 December, 1878, and both he and a companion remarked "the 

 extraordinary scarcity of common birds, and the unusual number 

 of winter visitors. One day every Snipe they put up, instead of 

 flying a bit and settling again, rose high in air, and went off due 

 south-east as far as they could see, right across the sea, to Mull. 

 The remark was then made, " The sooner we go south for powder 

 and provisions the better ; we are going to have an arctic winter," 

 which, as is well remembered, was a perfectly correct surmise. 

 It will thus be seen that the flights of wildfowl almost invariably 

 are from N. to S. on both coasts, but that the smaller birds — 

 land birds — as they fly lower, are more influenced by the 

 configuration of the coast-lines, and also, no doubt, by the 

 direction of the wind at the time. Our data are at present too- 

 scanty to lay down with precision the minutise of their lines of 

 flight, but another year's observations will probably greatly assist 

 us. The same rules, as to time of day or night at which birds 

 strike the lantern, holds upon the west coast which also obtain 

 on the east, and the same remarks as to weather also hold good. 



The above remarks upon the direction of the flights upon our 

 west coast may prove of value in a comparison with Mr. 

 Cordeaux*s notes upon the direction of the flights at the 

 Galloper Bank. We are aware here that birds pass overland on 

 migration, crossing Scotland between the Firths of Clyde and 



