48 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



harm such a bird myself, or give it other than a kindly 

 reception ; hut it is illogical to suppose that its death makes 

 the slightest difference. In the vast majority of cases, a 

 bird far removed from its natural sphere is destined to 

 come to an untimely end, and even if it survived the 

 hazardous experiment, "would be most unlikely to wish to 

 repeat it. Perhaps the most remarkable feature in con- 

 nection with "rare birds," is that they should so often 

 come across people who are able to recognize them. On 

 July 24th, 1871, an Alpine Swift, 500 miles out of his 

 latitude, was slowly hawking along the coast of Durham. 

 Such a bird might easily spend a month there, without 

 anything unusual being noticed ; but on that particular 

 day, Mr. Crawhall chanced to be walking along the cliffs, 

 near Souter Point (with my Father and myself), and 

 instantly recognized the species of the wanderer, not a 

 score of which have ever been obtained in Great Britain. 

 Since then, I have seen Alpine Swifts in dozens, at various 

 places, and on Gibraltar have admired their superb dashing 

 flight, making one dizzy as they hurl themselves over the 

 1,400 ft. mural precipice that fronts the Mediterranean. 



Most remarkable of all wanderers is the Pallas' s Sand-grouse, 

 whose western irruption has attracted so much attention in 

 the present year. The facts are too well known to need 

 repetition here ; suffice it to say, that for the second time, a 

 Central Asian species, whose home is in the desert steppes 

 of Tartary, Turkestan, and Thibet, seized by a wholly in- 

 explicable impulse, has left its far Eastern habitat, and 

 followed the sun as far as land stretches to the westward. 

 Crossing the Caspian and the Caucasus, these wholly exotic 

 forms have spread themselves over Europe, from Archangel 

 to Italy, and from Denmark to Donegal. The first great in- 

 vasion was in 1863,* and a quarter of a century later — namely, 

 in April 1888, we heard from Austrian sources of their second 

 advance to the outposts of scientific observation. We were, 

 therefore, prepared to hear of their advent at home ; yet 

 I shall never forget the intense pleasure and surprise 



* A minor invasion had previously taken place in the summer of 

 1869. 



