EAST COAST OF ENGLAND. 49 



and fro in the circle of light, having the appearance of a heavy- 

 fall of snow. This was repeated on the 8th and 12th, and on 

 the night of the 13th 160 were picked up on deck, including 

 Larks, Starlings, Thrushes and two Eedbreasts ; it was thought 

 one thousand struck and went overboard into the sea. It is 

 only on dark rainy nights, snow or fog, that these casualties 

 occur ; when the nights are light, or any stars visible, the birds 

 appear to give the lanterns a wide berth. 



Unquestionably the principal feature of the autumn migra- 

 tions has been the enormous arrival of the little Gold-crested 

 Wren. The migrations appear to have covered not only the E. 

 coast of England, but to have extended southward to the Channel 

 Islands and northward to the Faroes (see Eeport East Coast of 

 Scotland, Harvie Brown). On the E. coast of England they are 

 recorded at no less than twenty-one stations, from the Fame 

 Islands to the Hanois l.h., Guernsey. The earliest notice is 

 Aug. 6th, the latest Nov. 5th, or ninety-two days ; during the 

 same period enormous numbers crossed Heligoland, more 

 especially in October, and quite up to the end of the month. On 

 the night from the 28th to 29th Mr. Gatke remarks, " We have 

 had a perfect storm of Goldcrests, poor little souls, perching on the 

 ledges of the window-panes of the lighthouse, preening their feathers 

 in the glare of the lamps. On the 29th all the island swarmed 

 with them, filling the gardens and over all the cliff, — hundreds 

 of thousands ; by 9 a.m. most of them had passed on again." 



Not less remarkable was the great flight of the Common Jay 

 past and over that island early in October, on the 6th, 7th, and 

 8th ; thousands on thousands without interruption passing on 

 overhead like Crows, N. and S. of the island too, multitudes 

 like a continual stream, all going E. to W. in a strong south- 

 easterly gale. It would have been an interesting fact if we had 

 been able to correlate this migration of Jays with any visible 

 arrival on our English coast, but in none of our returns is any 

 mention made of the Jay. Mr. Matthew Bailey, of Flamborough, 

 told me that on one evening early in October (the exact date he 

 was not able to give) he had observed at dusk large flights of 

 birds, about the size of Jackdaws, coming to land, and was 

 struck with the good headway they seemed to make against a 

 strong wind. It was too dark, however, to make out what they 

 were. Subsequently I have received numerous notices speaking 



H 



