XII 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANISMS 357 
petition with the native productions. In other cases, as we 
have seen, facts of an exactly opposite nature occur. The rat, 
the pig, and the rabbit, the water-cress, the clover, and many 
other plants, when introduced into New Zealand, flourish 
exceedingly, and even exterminate their native competitors ; 
so that in these cases we may feel sure that the species in 
question did not exist in New Zealand simply because 
they had been unable to reach that country by their natural 
means of dispersal. I will now give a few cases, in addition 
to those recorded in my previous works, of birds and insects 
which have been observed far from any land. 
Birds and Insects at Sea. 
Captain I). Fullarton of the ship Tirnaru recorded in his 
loir the occurrence of a great number of small land-birds about 
O O ' Q 
the ship on 15th March 1886, when in Lat. 48 31' N., Long. 
8° 16' W. He says : “A great many small land-birds about us ; 
put about sixty into a coop, evidently tired out.” And two 
days later, 17th March, “Over fifty of the birds cooped on 
15th died, though fed. Sparrows, finches, water-wagtails, two 
small birds, name unknown, one kind like a linnet, and a large 
bird like a starling. In all there have been on board over 
seventy birds, besides some that hovered about us for some 
time and then fell into the sea exhausted.” Easterly winds 
and severe ■weather were experienced at the time. 1 The spot 
where this remarkable flight of birds was met with is about 
160 miles due west of Brest, and this is the least distance the 
birds must have been carried. It is interesting to note that 
the position of the ship is nearly in the line from the English 
and French coasts to the Azores, where, after great storms, so 
many bird stragglers arrive annually. These birds were prob¬ 
ably blown out to sea during their spring migration along the 
south coast of England to Wales and Ireland. During the 
autumnal migration, however, great flocks of birds—especially 
starlings, thrushes, and fieldfares—have been observed every 
year flying out to sea from the west coast of Ireland, almost 
the whole of which must perish. At the Nash Lighthouse, in 
the Bristol Channel on the coast of Glamorganshire, an enormous 
number of small birds were observed on 3d September, includ- 
1 Nature , 1st April 18S6. 
