Feathered Stowaways 



would not have expected to see over salt 

 water, and have observed one or two most 

 interesting stowaways. Of the out-of-the-way 

 birds I may particularly mention the night-jar. 

 Of course, every one knows this bird goes south 

 in autumn, but, as it is a creature of the night, 

 one naturally expects it to travel at that time, 

 especially as so large a proportion of the birds 

 of day are addicted to "moonlight flitting" 

 when on trek. 



Thus a night-jar at sea is a very surprising 

 sight, and at no time does one get a better 

 view of this beautifully-mottled moth-hunter 

 than when he flies round a ship in broad 

 daylight, almost brushing it with his wings. 

 His visit, however, is usually literally a flying 

 one, and I have never known a night-jar stay 

 any time on board, or let itself be caught 

 there, though showing at the time remarkably 

 little fear of man. 



But one or two cases of bird passengers with 

 which a closer acquaintance has been possible 

 have occurred to me at different times, accom- 

 panied by circumstances of unusual interest. 



In my first voyage abroad — more than twelve 



years ago — I was surprised and pleased by 



the appearance on board of a grey shrike, very 



similar to our winter visitor at home, though 



not quite identical. 



163 



