96 REPORT ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



all between 29th and 31st Oct., indicating a rush. In 1884, which 

 was a good Woodcock season on shore, with immense spring 

 returns visible between Firths of Forth and Clyde, yet only two 

 spring records at Pentland Skerries and Isle of May, April 3rd 

 and March 30th respectively. In autumn, near this, one day I 

 saw eighteen Woodcocks killed. The similarity of circumstances 

 of 187D and 1880 are worth attention. A considerable number 

 of Woodcocks were killed in October and November, 1884, at 

 Isle of May, and indications of arrivals very general. The 

 spring records must have been weakly birds (one was disabled), 

 as they appeared long after the spring return rush, great 

 numbers being observable on land on 8th, 9th, 10th to 12th 

 March. Indeed it would almost appear that any records sent 

 from Island- or East-Coast stations during spring were of 

 probably maimed or weakly birds, or birds delayed long after 

 the " return of the Woodcocks " in March. As before remarked, 

 the spring birds were all small russet cocks, and they rested 9th, 

 10th, 11th and 12th March between Firths of Forth and 

 Clyde, "lifted" again, and did not alight till they had 

 crossed the German Ocean (see 1883 Report, pp. 80, 81). The 

 autumn rush was considerably later than usual in 1884 (see 

 details). 



Regarding the unusually extensive migration of Gulls to 

 our coasts in 1884-85, several suggestions as to the influencing 

 causes are readily at hand, but the following appears to have 

 the greatest weight and importance. 



As we are informed in ' Nature,' of Feb. 12th, 1885, recent 

 Norwegian explorations in the Spitzbergen seas show that the 

 year 1884 was a very remarkable ice year. " The west side 

 of Spitzbergen was blocked by a belt of land ice the whole 

 summer through, whilst the east side, which -is nearly always 

 blocked with ice, was more open than it- had been for many 

 years. These conditions, there seems little doubt, depend on 

 the prevailing direction of the winds." 



Now, the temperature of water having been lowered by the 

 accumulation of ice along the W. coast of Spitzbergen, which is 

 comparatively approximate to the furthest N.E. influence of the 

 Gulf Stream, it seems natural to suppose that a deflection of the 

 branch of the Gulf Stream, caused by the colder Arctic ice and 

 current, the accumulation of which former was- caused by the 



