Colymbidæ.—From Aug. 13th to Nov. 8th, at intervals, many Great Northern and Red-throated Divers seen off Redcar. At the Inner Farne L.H., from Oct. 5th to 17th, both species common; two of the former, shot Dec. 8th and 10th, off the Inner Farne Island, weighed 12 and 12½ pounds.
Podicipitidæ.—At the Inner Farne L.H., in February, 1881, an unusual number of Grebes and small Divers were observed.
General Remarks.
The results of the observations taken along the East Coast of England in the spring and autumn of 1881 have been satisfactory; it is true that, as already mentioned, the returns sent in have been less than in the previous year, yet what has been lost in quantity has more than been made up in the quality of the work. The observers have become trained by experience, and have learnt not only how to observe, but what to observe.
As in previous years, the main line of migration has been a broad stream from E. to W. or from S.E. to N.W. this year, covering the whole of our east coast in comparatively equal proportions; the occurrences of migrants coming from northerly directions, or from points anything north of east, are few and far between, and in these cases are consequent on birds striking the coast in more northern latitudes and following it to the south. Thus, north of Flamborough, Larks pass up the coast from north to south; at Spurn and south of Spurn they come in directly from the sea. The closeness with which both migrants and immigrants follow the coast line has also been verified in a remarkable degree,—an observer taking up his position at a short distance from the coast would see or know nothing of migration, yet within half-a-mile or less there might be a constant stream of birds, hour by hour and day by day passing to the south.
In the spring birds also return on the same lines they travelled in the autumn, from W. and N.W. to E. and S.E. A reference to the spring notes in the report on each separate species observed will show this. Our spring immigrants also arrive from the sea, and are first seen on or near the coast, gradually moving inland. Migration has been earlier than in 1880, in many cases birds arriving considerably in advance of recent years; this has been notably the case with some of the Limicolæ, such as have the widest ranges and where nesting grounds are circumpolar—that is, confined to lands surrounding the North Pole. Also in the case of the Anatidæ, which arrived fully a month before their average period.
It may be said the general features of migration, having reference to lines of flight, time, height of travelling, favourable winds or otherwise, circumstances of greatest casualties at lanterns of lighthouses and light-vessels, are the same as set forth in previous reports; yet in 1881 we find several important variations from the normal phenomenon, consequent on the directions of the wind and general character of the season. From the commencement of August to the end of October the prevailing winds have been from northerly and easterly directions, blowing more or less directly on to the coast, and therefore, as also shown in previous reports, unfavourable passage winds—for it may be laid down as an axiom that, with southerly or westerly winds, not amounting to gales, normal migration is the rule, but with winds in the opposite direction, the results are very opposite; such winds, more especially if strong, weary out the immigrants and compel them to drop on the first coast they make, often completely exhausted by the passage. The consequence has been that, on our east coast, with the prevailing winds, it has been a most favourable season for the observer; and generally the number of birds recorded is considerably in excess of any previous records.
The winter of 1881-82 has been remarkable for its high temperature, no such uniformly mild season having occurred for many years in England. The same has been the case over the whole of Northern Europe north of latitude 50° N. As might be expected, so exceptional a season has not been without its effect upon our immigrants. Fieldfares have crossed in very limited numbers, and have everywhere been remarkably scarce in localities along our east coast. Large numbers of birds which regularly arrive in the autumn, as the Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Tree Sparrow, Snow Bunting, and others, and which remain for a few days only and then pass on, have this winter continued for many weeks, and even months, resorting in immense flocks to the stubble-fields near the coast, where, with no severe weather to drive them away, they found an inexhaustible supply of food in the large quantity of grain dashed out in harvest-time by the great gale from S.W. to W. on August 26th. Snow Buntings have been considerably in excess of anything known for many years, the proportion of old birds not more than one in a hundred.
Another consequence of the mildness of the winter is the desultory fashion in which birds have migrated; there have been less of those great "rushes," when for days together one species after another rush helter-skelter on to our coast. Migration has also been greatly prolonged, and the latest returns received show Rooks, Starlings, and Larks still crossing the North Sea in February. The last week in August and first in September Wheatears and Redstarts passed as usual up the coast from N. to S., the line of migration being confined to the chain of sandhills. Also during the first week of September, and again about the 20th, there was an immense migration of the Sylviinæ in the same direction. Migration appears to have reached its climax on or about Sept. 22nd, an enormous number of various immigrants coming in from this time to the end of the month. Not the least remarkable was the influx of the larger raptorial birds crossing Heligoland on Sept. 22nd and two following days, and were about the same period seen along the entire range of our eastern coast. From this date to the end of October ten Ospreys were procured from localities contiguous to the east coast of England, between the Tyne and the Thames. Again, the third week of October there was another large immigration of birds of various species. On the night of Oct. 24th great numbers of Mealy Redpoles came in on the Holderness coast; the same flight was also traceable as far north as the Farne Islands; the Mealy Redpoles appear to have been accompanied or closely followed by a flight of Siskins. Hooded Crows came with their usual regularity, almost to a day; this autumn the great flight crossed Heligoland on the afternoon of Oct. 17th, and on the 18th. There was a corresponding arrival along the whole of our east coast on the night of 17th or early morning of 18th, and on the 19th.
Short-eared Owls, Golden Crested Wrens, and Woodcocks arrive with great punctuality during the first fortnight in October, and are invariably associated in their migration—that is, coming at the same time; it is a curious fact that, in the last autumn, all three arrived in conjunction five weeks in advance of their average period; this perhaps may have been a local and coast movement from North Britain, and not across the North Sea.