170 
I. 
Ux\ THE SEEING MIGEATION OF BIRDS AT 
ST. LEONAliDS. 
JA- J. ]I, Gurney, Jun., F.Z.S. 
Read 2 W 1 Sept., 1880. 
I HE observations recorded in the present article have all been made 
Within a feiv miles of St. Leonards, in Sussex, during the two 
springs ol 1879* and 1880, but principally in tlie latter. I will 
preface niy paper by saying that the coast in this part of Sussex 
varies. To the east of St. Leonards tliere arc lofty clih's, broken 
by^ two snudl but riddy wooded glens, called Ecclesbourne and 
bairhght. To the west lies a long loiv tract of common-land 
and shingle, with brackisli pools of various sizes at intervals, 
tempting to AFaders. The largest of these pools is a very 
marshy spot at Bexhill, nearly half a mile long. This was a 
very fovourite resort of mine, and as it was only a four-mile 
walk from St. Leonards I was often there, and was enabled to 
observe the passage of several interesting birds with great exact- 
ness. This part of England is where a great many of our 
Insessorial migrants alight from the Continent. Most of these 
were much later in 18/9 than in 1880, which is easily accounted for 
by the difference of weather. 1879 was one of tlie wettest 
and coldest springs ever known : compared to it 1880 was warm 
and genial. I noted the first arrival of seventeen t species 
* A short paper on the birds observed in 1879 ajjpeared in tlic 
‘Zoologist’ (3rd series, vol. iii. p. 376). 
t Wheatear, Chiffehaff, Swallow, Swift, Cuckoo, Willow Warbler, Sand 
Martin, Yellow Wagtail, Greater AVhitethroat, House Martin, Whinchat, 
Sedge Warbler, Wryneck, Nightingale, Sandpiper, Red-backed Shrike, and 
Turtle Dove. A few others were noted in one spring only, but the above 
were noted in both springs. 
