160 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
is the leading month, with 28.6 per cent., followed by March,
September and October. If we condense the appearances
into seasons, we have a simplified comparison. It is only
necessary to consider the spring and autumn periods, the figures
for summer and winter being relatively insignificant. For
England and Wales the figures are 64.0 per cent. for spring,
and 27.1 for autumn, a difference of 36.9 per cent. In Scotland,
autumn is the chief period with 57.3 per cent., while spring has
30.2, a difference of 27.1 in favour of the autumnal migration.
The latitudinal position of Ireland, which has also the important
influence of a south coast, although more northerly, is closer
to that of England and Wales than of Scotland, and its seasonal
appearances seem to bear a similar relation, for spring claims
56.6 per cent., and autumn 34.0. It will be noticed that the
difference between the Irish seasons is 22.6 per cent., and although
it is a considerable figure, it is less than the same figure for the
other two countries. To simplify this part of the enquiry I
sum up without giving the percentages for the three belts into
which, as already stated, England and Wales have been sub-
divided. It may be said that in the south of England nearly
three Hoopoes arrive in spring for every one that comes in
autumn, but as we go northwards the two periods become more
equally represented, equilibrium being reached probably between
the Wash and the Humber. North of the Humber the positions
are almost reversed for this area has received nearly two visits
in autumn for every one in spring. The Scottish figures are
very similar to those of the north of England, but with a still
greater preponderance of visits in the autumn. The Irish
appearances are similar to those of the Southern belt of England
and Wales, but the difference between the seasons is not so
pronounced. It would appear from these statistics, that seasonal
appearances and latitudinal position must be correlated.
There is no English county which has not received a visit
from the Hoopoe, but some of the Welsh, Scottish and Irish
counties are without a record. For the complete area and
period under consideration, there are appearances for every
month of the year, but Ireland is the only country which can
claim appearances in February.
The question arises as to whether the visits of the Hoopoe
are as frequent as they were, and whether any alteration can be
observed in seasonal representation. To facilitate answering
this question, the one hundred years were divided into twenty
periods of five years each. From 1839 there was a gradual,
though not consistent, rise in the numbers visiting England and
Wales during the first quarter of a century—the peak period