_Note._--Herr H. C. Müller informs me that a lighthouse will be
shortly erected at Nossoe, in Faroe, eighty feet above the sea. Herr
Müller considers that this will prove a good station for observing
birds during migration. Suderöe would also be a good observatory.
He also told me of the occurrence, for the first time, of _Sciurus
noveboracensis_ at Nordtalik, Greenland, about May, 1882; and of the
occurrence also of a young Sabine's Gull at the same place. I have a
young Sabine's Gull, brought home last year (1883) by the whalers to
Dundee.
Of the progress of the scheme of accumulation of migrational data in
other parts of the world, we may notice here that Dr. Arthur proposes
to take up the subject at the lighthouses in New Zealand, and will send
the Committee his schedules for arrangement.
Our American friends have made a promising start with similar
intentions, but of a much wider scope, as is shown by the circular,
which we here reprint, as it will show to our reporters other
collateral subjects which offer plenty of opportunity for observation,
and which can easily be made as applicable here as in North America, as
regards our commoner species. Schedules somewhat more elaborate than
ours have been issued also to lighthouses in America:--
"At the first congress of the American Ornithologists' Union, held in
New York City, Sept. 26th-28th, 1883, a Committee on the Migration of
Birds was appointed. It is the purpose of this Committee to investigate
in all its bearings, and to the fullest extent possible, the subject
of the migration of birds in the United States and British North
America. The work will not be limited to the accumulation of records
of the times of arrival and departure of the different species, but
will embrace the collection of all data that may aid in determining
the causes which influence the progress of migration from season to
season. For example, severe storms, gales of wind, protracted periods
of unusually high or low temperature (for the locality and time of
year) are among the atmospheric conditions that are known to exert
marked effects upon the movements of birds. The opening of the leaves
and the flowering of certain plants, with the correlative appearance
of a multitude of insects, are also among the factors that have to do
with the abundance of many species. Hence the careful registration
of certain meteorological phenomena, and of the state of advancing
vegetation from day to day, will constitute prominent items in the
record books of the observer.
"For convenience in collecting and arranging the enormous mass of
material which will be accumulated by the joint labours of this army
of field workers, it has been deemed advisable to divide the vast
expanse of territory embraced in the United States and British North
America into thirteen districts, each of which will be placed under the
immediate direction of a competent superintendent."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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