Report on the Migration of Birds in the Autumn of 1879. [First Report]Harvie-Brown, J. A. (John Alexander)
Science
Report on the Migration of Birds in the Autumn of 1879. [First Report]
Harvie-Brown, J. A. (John Alexander)
Birds -- Migration -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
Song Thrush, Redwing, Fieldfare, Blackbird, and Ring Ouzel.--With the
exception of the last, which is reported from Heligoland, the _Turdidæ_
are noticed at fourteen stations extending over the whole coast-line.
At the Longstone, on Sept. 11th, four Redwings killed at 3 a.m., gloomy
and thick; on Oct. 30th and 31st Thrushes, Blackbirds and Redwings
passed, wind E. and N. At the Farn Islands, Oct. 14th, Redwings, 9
a.m.; 15th, Thrushes and Blackbirds, N.N.E. half a gale; 22nd, several
Blackbirds; 30th, same, and flocks of Redwings all day, E.; Nov. 20th,
Fieldfares all day, E. strong; 22nd, same; Dec. 5th, 3 p.m., snow.
Blackbirds and Thrushes. At Teesmouth on Dec. 1st, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.,
snow. Redwings, Thrushes and Fieldfares, going from N. to S.W.; Dec.
2nd, a few Redwings. At Teesmouth lighthouse on Oct. 1st, at daylight,
forty to fifty Thrushes, and twenty to thirty at 9 a.m. on the 7th; on
Dec. 4th, at 6 a.m., one Blackbird struck the glass and was killed.
At Spurn on Dec. 2nd, 9 a.m., large numbers of Thrushes. At the Outer
Dowsing, Sept. 24th, four Blackbirds; on the 29th, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.,
six Thrushes. At the Leman and Ower on Dec. 16th, Thrushes in company
with Larks and Starlings all through the night. At Cromer on Oct.
24th three Thrushes struck the lantern during the night; on the 30th
four, and on Nov. 16th five others. At the Newarp, Nov. 28th, 9 a.m.,
six Blackbirds passed. At the Kentish Knock, Nov. 18th, one Thrush
killed. At the Nore, Nov. 7th, four Blackbirds, going W.S.W.; Nov. 3rd,
Fieldfares. At the North Foreland, Nov. 21st, 1 a.m., E.S.E., snow, one
Blackbird killed. At the Gull-stream, Nov. 21st, cloudy and showers of
snow, Starlings, Blackbirds, and Thrushes in the vicinity of light from
1 to 4 a.m.; six Starlings, four Thrushes, and one Blackbird killed.
At the South-sand Head, Oct. 12th, dense fog, many Thrushes; several
killed. General line of migration, with few exceptions, E. to W.,
carried on both by day and night; a considerable proportion, however,
appear to arrive from daybreak to 10 a.m. Migration of Thrush extending
over seventy-seven days, from Oct. 1st at Teesmouth to Dec. 16th at the
Leman and Ower; of Redwing, sixty-five days, from Sept. 11th at the
Longstone to Dec. 2nd at Teesmouth; of Fieldfare, twenty-eight days,
from Nov. 3rd at the Nore to Dec. 1st at Teesmouth;[5] of Blackbird,
seventy-two days, from Sept. 24th at the Outer Dowsing to Dec. 5th at
Farn Islands.[6] On Oct. 29th, S.E. and E., _Tardus iliacus_ crossed
Heligoland in large numbers, "thousands and thousands" passing on
overhead; the same day, _T. torquatus_, "a few"; _T. merula_ and _T.
musicus_, "limited numbers"; "_T. iliacus_ descending from invisible
heights down to about one hundred feet above island,--three hundred
feet above the sea,--then all of them passing on; when atmosphere got
clear again, in afternoon, passage ceased." Again on the night of the
30th, N.N.E., "enormous number of _Turdidæ_ passing overhead."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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