[17] These reports and summaries refer not only to the British Islands, but to North-Western Europe, from Bodo and Haparanda to Corunna and Toulon. They are based upon numerous Continental returns from the area indicated, as well as from all parts of our own islands.
The second movement extended from the 8th to the 12th of November. Regarding the meteorological conditions, the summaries tell us that previous to the 8th the weather had been changeable and unsettled generally, and the distribution of pressure mainly cyclonic, with westerly, north-westerly, and southerly winds. From the 8th to 13th the pressure system over North-Western Europe was anti-cyclonic, with light (easterly in south, south-easterly in west, and southerly in the north) breezes. On the 13th, however, a large and somewhat deep depression advanced from the Atlantic, and spread quickly over all North-Western Europe, with gradients for south-westerly and westerly winds.
Thus we had the two chief movements of the autumn ushered in by and concurrent with anti-cyclonic conditions, preceded by and ceasing with cyclonic depressions. These great barometric changes are also frequently accompanied by equally great changes in temperature, and this may be the cause of the mists which so commonly prevail on "a migration night."
It would be well if a summary of all the sections of the reports could be submitted to a competent meteorologist. This, it is thought, would result in a few years in establishing a better understanding of the relationship which exists between the weather and the great movements of birds.
It cannot be said that the southerly flow of autumn migrants is evenly distributed along the entire west coast of England, though such appears to be commonly the case on the east coast. On the contrary, the schedules again afford unmistakable evidence that the great majority of these migrants are observed at stations south of Anglesey. But while the north-west section of the coast is thus less favoured than the rest, such is not the case with the Isle of Man, which comes in for an important share of the west coast migratory movements. Now, since it is a well-established fact that large masses of migrants from Northern Europe, along with others from the Faröes, Iceland, and Greenland, pass down the west coast of Scotland, whence many cross to Ireland, it seems probable, from the evidence borne by the English West Coast returns, that the majority of the remainder leave Scotland at some point on the Wigtown coast, and pass to the west coast of Wales by way of the Isle of Man, and thus avoid the English shores of the Irish Sea.[18] Whether this is a reasonable and likely explanation, or not, the fact remains that the schedules for the years 1884 and 1885[19] received from the coasts of Flint, Cheshire, Lancashire, and Cumberland—and they are among the most faithfully kept—make it evident that during those seasons comparatively few of the ordinary migrants were observed there, and that the great general movements did not affect them in any considerable degree.
[18] The remarks do not apply to migrants among the Limicolæ and Anseres, which, as a rule, religiously follow coast lines, and which are abundantly represented on the Solway and coasts of Cumberland and Lancashire.
[19] The scarcity or entire absence of migratory birds at St Bees is remarked upon ill the Reports for 1880 and 1881.
The migratory movements of such partially resident species as the Redbreast, Hedge Sparrow, Wren, Greenfinch, Sparrow, Bullfinch, Yellow Hammer, and others are recorded.
Of the rarer and more interesting species included in the Report, the Black Redstart, White Wagtail, Gadwall, Red-Necked and Grey Phalaropes, Ruff, Black Tern, Glaucus Gull, and Leach's Petrel may be mentioned.
As an unusual species to observe at the lantern, we may allude to the occurrence of the Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) at the South Bishop, a locality indicating that the bird must have been migrating.