THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 185 



sometimes as many as ten individuals, passed the island in the 

 course of the forenoon. At noon these flights succeeded each other 

 at shorter intervals, while at the same time an increase in the 

 number of individuals took place. From three o'clock in the 

 afternoon, however, until about six in the evening, the migration 

 pi'oceeded in one incessant stream, the numbers of individuals in 

 the successive flocks increasing up to fifty, eighty, or even larger 

 numbers. These made their appearance on the horizon in unin- 

 terrupted succession on the east of the island, and disappeared from 

 view in the far west. 



At this time scarcely any gaps occurred between the successive 

 flocks, the van of one band being almost contiguous with the rear 

 of that which preceded it. The weather at the time was beauti- 

 fully calm, and one might almost fancy that he heard the rustle of 

 their wings though the mighty horde of wanderers passed on their 

 way silently at a great height above. 



The question, ' Whence comes this enormous multitude of birds 

 of one and the same species?' is one that may well excite our wonder 

 and astonishment. Leaving out of consideration for the moment 

 the fact that the direction in which these birds travelled was from 

 .east to west, their number was so astonishingly large that the 

 bi-eeding stations of central and southern Scandinavia could not 

 possibly have produced or accommodated so vast a throng; only 

 the endless forests of European and Asiatic Russia could have given 

 them birth. Even then, however, it remains as much as ever a sub- 

 ject for wonder how so countless a multitude of individuals, whose 

 nests only occur scattered wherever found, could have possibly 

 congregated for migratory purposes on one and the same day. 



The breeding range of this species extends from northern Spain 

 through Europe. In Scandinavia it stretches up to the Arctic 

 circle, and extends within the same parallels of latitude, to all 

 appearances, as far as eastern Asia. 



The manner and means by which Buzzards, during their depart- 

 ing journey, frequentlj' rise to elevations beyond human ken, is a 

 phenomenon of the highest interest, which has been abeady dis- 

 cus.sed in gi'eater detail in the section dealins: with the height at 

 which the flight of migration proceeds in different instances. 



A peculiar feature of the process in regard to these birds consists 

 in the fact that they do not, for the purpose of attaining the re- 

 quisite elevation, make use of the motion of their wings or of aerial 

 currents, but soar upwards in a calm atmosphere with their wings 

 outspread and perfectl}' motionless. I had noticed this proceeding 

 in huncbeds of instances every year. My reports on the subject to 

 fellow-ornithologists, however, invariably met — except in one in- 



