232 The Scottish Naturalist. 



turn voyages to England, in the late autumn, a Rook, completely- 

 exhausted, came on board the vessel in the North Sea, 220 

 miles from the nearest land — namely, the north of Scotland. 

 The bird was caught, and well cared for, and after a few days set 

 at liberty, but did not leave the vessel — remaining on board, hop- 

 ping about the deck among the men, and roosting in the rigging 

 at night. At Shetland, Captain Gravil sent the bird on shore, 

 and sailed the same evening for Hull. The next morning, when 

 more than 40 miles from Lerwick, and out of sight of land, the 

 sailors were astonished at seeing their late comrade winging his 

 way to the vessel, on which he presently alighted, with a great 

 cawing, and every sign of satisfaction. He continued with them 

 till the vessel arrived in Hull, when the poor bird was unfortu- 

 nately killed, much to the regret of the crew, by some mischievous 

 boys." 



These, however, are all exceptional cases — birds which have 

 been either driven, or accidentally drawn, out of their natural 

 course. The Quail, and many other birds, as I have attempted 

 to show, cross in their direct line of passage an extent of sea, in 

 some parts of the Mediterranean, of more than 500 miles without 

 rest, and without food ; and I think there is quite sufficient proof 

 to show that very considerably longer distances are accomplished 

 in the regular line of passage over the ocean, in other parts of the 

 world, by birds of quite as feeble a flight, and even more so, than 

 the Quail. When in the Bermudas, which are peculiarly adapted 

 for noticing birds during their passage, I had frequent opportuni- 

 ties of so doing, and not only from my own observations and that 

 of others, but especially from the valuable and authentic informa- 

 tion on the subject collected by Mr J. E. Jones, and which is to 

 be found in his very useful little work, ' The Naturalist in Ber- 

 muda,' from which I have already quoted at the beginning of this 

 ])aper, I feel convinced that one, if not the principal, line of 

 migration from the north-eastern parts of North America is by 

 Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy, and State of Maine, in a nearly 

 due southerly course, across the ocean to the West Indian Archi- 

 pelago, and so on to South America. Taking the starting-points 

 to be Cape Sable in Nova Scotia, or Cape Cod in Massachusetts, 

 the distance to be traversed would be more than three times the 

 distance shown in the Mediterranean — the distance from Cape 

 Sable to Bermuda 690 geographical miles, and that from Ber- 

 muda to St Thomas or Porto-Rico, the nearest land in a due 

 southerly direction, 825 miles, making, in all, over 1500 miles 



