182 
A NATURALIST’S NOTES IN NORTH DEVON. Aug., 1890. 
of course necessary for their identification. I was lucky 
enough to observe migrations taking place on five nights, and 
was able to identify several of the species engaged in them. 
On the 15tli at 9 30 p.m. (wind S.S.E., fresh, weather thick 
with driving rain, moon not up), a party of Common Sand¬ 
pipers flying due east; another little party a quarter of an 
hour later. On the 18th, about the same time (dark, weather 
thick, but clearing, wind W.N.W., nearly calm), Einged 
Plover and Common Sandpiper flying west, calling loudly. 
On the 21st, 12 15 midnight, birds (not identified) flying over 
the town. 22nd, 10 20 p.m. (calm, starlight). Whimbrel 
flying west. 23rd, 10 p.m. (starlight), birds flying over the 
town, only Redshank doubtfully identified. Except when the 
air is calm birds prefer to fly against the wind, or across and 
partly against it. In some cases this question of the wind causes 
an apparent retrogression in the general direction of the 
autumnal migration, i.e. south and south-west. So in the 
case of the Common Sandpipers on the 15th, whose direction 
of flight would take them up the Bristol Channel. Unless 
they crossed the land higher up, they would have to return 
the same way to reach the south coast. 
Anxious to learn what species usually passed down that 
part of the coast, I questioned the obliging keeper of the Bull 
Point Lighthouse, some few miles west of Ilfracombe, who 
sends in returns to the Migration Committee of the British 
Association. From him I gathered that few birds ever struck 
the light. The lighthouse stands in a very exposed position, 
and the lantern is 154ft. above the sea, so that the birds 
would not easily miss it. But the light is a revolving one, 
giving three flashes in the half minute, with a corresponding 
period of obscurity, and in the keeper’s opinion far more birds 
would strike if the light were fixed. The few that he noticed 
generally consisted of Blackbirds, Thrushes, and Starlings. 
In looking through the report of the migration committee for 
that year I find that on the 24th September a number of 
Willow Wrens and Whitethroats were observed, on the 5th 
October a Lark struck, on the 26th and 30tli a Blackbird, and 
on the 31st six of the same species struck the light. 
The Swifts left Ilfracombe early. On the 15th August a 
number of them were flying round St. Paul’s Church, but they 
had all disappeared the next day, and a straggler on the 20th 
was the only one I noticed after that date. That they should 
have left this locality, with its mild climate, so soon is rather 
curious, and must be attributed to its western position, for 
on my return to North Oxfordshire, I heard that Swifts con¬ 
tinued numerous there until the 19th, and a few were noticed 
on the following day. 
