G59 
observed in the Vicinity of Wei Hai Wei. 
groves which are found in and about graveyards, and other 
places, where to cut wood is a crime. 
Willows, often of considerable size, fringe some of the 
sandy watercourses which are to be met with in the flatter 
portions of the country. 
The hills either slope gradually down to the sea-level, or 
become from their position on the coast bold headlands, or 
they may merge at their feet into the sandy flats which in so 
many places border the shores of the Shantung Peninsula, and 
provide breeding-grounds admirably suited to such species 
as Calandrella pispoletta and zEgialitis alexandrina. 
The vicinity of Wei Hai Wei is very thickly populated, 
and the Chinese cultivate all the lower ground to the 
utmost limits of its productivity. 
In the autumn and winter every stick and blade of grass 
that can be cut down or scraped from the ground is used as 
fuel, so that undergrowth has little chance to flourish. 
Practically the only places where scrub and rank grass 
escape are the native cemeteries, which for this reason form 
sanctuaries for many species of birds. 
The Shantung Peninsula is peculiarly well suited for the 
reception of migrating birds as they pass from north to south 
in autumn or in the reverse direction during the spring. 
Korea is not much more than a hundred miles to the 
north and east, Port Arthur and the Kwantung Peninsula 
are still nearer and almost directly due north, and two 
hundred miles or so further north and west, across the Gulf 
of Pecliili, lies Manchuria. 
From all these lands, and from the vast spaces of North¬ 
eastern Asia 'w hich lie behind them, there pours down in 
early autumn a flood of migrants, and right across the 
southward track of very many of them stretches the 
Peninsula of Shantung. 
The North-East Promontory appears to be a point at 
which many birds aim in their autumnal southward journey, 
and nowhere may more migrants be seen in August and 
September, especially after one of the north-easterly gales so 
prevalent during the last-named month. The presence of a 
