SUMMER ON THE MOORS 99 



extended its bounds, or altered its natural home. Per- 

 sonally, I would never harm the wanderer myself or 

 give it other than a kindly reception ; but it is illogical 

 to assume that its life or death makes the slightest 

 difference to Nature's plan. A bird far removed from 

 its natural sphere is destined to come to an untimely 

 end ; but even assuming that it survived the hazardous 

 adventure, it would be most unlikely to repeat it. 



The only intrinsic value to ornithologists, in such 

 stray occurrences, is the evidence they may afford of the 



maximum geographical range of the species involved 



even though it be (as such usually are) a merely accidental 

 variation. Thus on July 24th, 1871, we happened to meet 

 with an Alpine Swift {Cypselus melba), full 500 miles 

 out of his proper latitude, slowly hawking along the 

 Durham coast, near Souter Point. Not a score of these 

 large swifts have ever been obtained in Great Britain ; 

 yet, in Southern Spain, I have seen them in hundreds, and 

 at Gibraltar have watched their dashing flight till one 

 almost turns dizzy as they hurl themselves over the 1400- 

 feet precipice that fronts the Mediterranean. 



Again, such stray occurrences of unusual birds may 

 pass unrecorded hundreds of times, unless they happen 

 to come under the observation of some ornithologist 

 who recognises them. Thus, on June nth a Lesser 

 Whitethroat (a scarce species in the north) came into 

 our garden at Moorhouse, Leamside. My brother Alfred 

 instantly recognised by its note that it was a strange 

 bird to him. Unfortunately, it was impossible, in the 

 thick foliage, to identify its species without shooting 

 it. A fortnight afterwards, we identified the bird in 

 South Norway, solely through having learned its song 

 on the above occasion. Similarly, on June 21st, 1889, 



