As usual Rooks, Daws, Hooded Crows, Starlings, and Larks, occupy a considerable portion of the schedules. Chaffinches also have crossed in extraordinary numbers. They are always numerous, but this autumn their migration has been in considerable excess of previous years. With these exceptions, however, there has been a singular and very marked falling off in some species whose breeding range lies chiefly in the north of Europe. This is specially noticeable in the small arrivals recorded of Fieldfares, Redwings, Ring Ouzels, Bramblings, Snow Buntings, Short-eared Owls, and Woodcocks. Taken altogether, the migratory record for 1886 is a very poor one.
No wild Swans are recorded, the few entries in the schedules having undoubtedly reference to escapes from parks and private waters. Geese and Ducks have appeared quite as numerously as in previous years.
The arrivals of rare and occasional visitants have been few, those of chief interest being three Harlequin Ducks (Cosmonetta histrionica) at the Farn Islands; the Mediterranean Black-headed Gull (Larus melanocephalus), shot on Breydon Water, near Yarmouth; a Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea), shot on Oulton Broad, near Lowestoft; and the reputed occurrences of the Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca) close to the Languard L.H., Suffolk. Of much interest also is the arrival of Shorelarks (Otocorys alpestris) on the coast between the Farn Islands and Yarmouth.
The continued yearly observations show that on the East Coast of England the principal points of arrival for migrants are the mouths of the chief rivers, also those parts of the coast which present either a flat and open shore, or cliffs of low altitude. Considerable stretches of coast, which, as a rule, have a high cliff line, make poor returns, or in some cases no schedules are sent in, indicating a great scarcity of birds.
It is well known that migrants under certain meteorological conditions travel at a great height, when it may fairly be presumed that the physical features of the earth's surface, the trend of mountain chains, or the course of great river systems, have little to do in determining their line, which is from point to point, and without deviation; yet in the vast majority of cases, where migration is visible, birds travel at a comparatively low altitude, so that when passing mountain chains, and even hills of no great altitude, they invariably choose the lines of the valleys, following depressions which, more or less, correspond to the general direction of their course. In the Cheviots I have observed, for two years in succession, that the streams of small migrants from Scotland follow those main valleys which run nearest north and south, sticking closely to the lowest levels, where the brushwood and bracken beds offer greater privacy and security than the bare fell sides. Birds also, when migrating, follow from choice low-lying tracks of land and river courses in preference to elevated plateau and the summit line of mountain ranges.
Bearing these facts in mind, we find that there is a very well-marked line, both of entry and return, at the Farn Islands, on the coast of Northumberland. Scarcely second to this is the mouth of the Tees, both in spring and autumn. The North Yorkshire coast, from south of Redcar to Flamborough, including the north side of the headland, is comparatively barren, few birds appearing to come in between these points. Bridlington Bay and Holderness to Spurn and Lincolnshire, as far as Gibraltar Point, give perhaps the best returns of any on the East Coast. The north of Norfolk is poor, but there are indications in the heavy returns annually sent from the Llyn Wells, Dudgeon, Leman and Ower, and Happisburgh light-vessels, that a closely focused stream pours along the coast from E. to W., to pass inland by the estuary of the Wash and the river systems of the Nene and Welland into the centre of England, and thence probably following the line of the Avon, the north coast of the Severn, and Bristol Channel, and eventually striking across the Irish Sea, to enter Ireland near the Tuskar Rock, off the Wexford coast. This route is undoubtedly the great and main thoroughfare for birds in transit across England to Ireland in the autumn. Large numbers of migrants also which pass inland from the coasts of Holderness and Lincolnshire may eventually join in with the great western highway by the line of the Trent, avoiding altogether the mountainous districts of Wales. These remarks will refer chiefly to the Passerine birds, the Accipitres, Limicolæ, and Gaviæ, also Geese and Ducks, when crossing land, travelling as a rule very high.
To return once more to the East Coast, the Norfolk seaboard between Cromer and Yarmouth and the corresponding light-vessels show a large annual immigration, but the returns are less pronounced between Yarmouth and Orfordness. The coast of Essex, with the northern side of the Thames estuary, is fairly good; but the opposite coast of Kent, from the North to the South Forelands, including the four Goodwin and the Varne light-vessels, is a barren and pre-eminently uninteresting district for arrivals, both as regards numbers and species, the chief migrants seen being such as are following the coast to the south.
Those migrants, which in the autumn follow the East Coast from north to south, pass directly from the Spurn to the Lincolnshire coast without entering the Humber; and there are no indications that they follow the shores of the Wash in and out, but shape their course from about Gibraltar Point to the Norfolk coast. To judge from the well-filled schedules sent in year by year from the Shipwash, Swin Middle, Kentish Knock, and Galloper light-vessels, a closely packed stream passes somewhere from the coast of Suffolk across the North Sea in the line of these stations, both in the spring and autumn, to and from the Continent. Autumn migrants approaching the Humber from the sea do not follow the course of that river into the interior—that is from S.E. to N.W.—the line they take invariably crosses the river diagonally, and is from E.S.E. to W.N.W. This course is so persistently followed, that I have observed year by year, on a migratory day, birds cross our fields at the same angle. Supposing this course to be continued they would strike the Trent at or near Gainsborough.
Except in one instance no returns have been obtained from any stations on the south-east coast between the South Foreland and St Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight. This is much to be regretted, as it is known that a strong migratory highway runs along the South Coast as well as on the French side of the Channel.
