i8o THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



markable still, the occurrence of the frail and tiny 

 Yellow-browed Willow Wren {Phylloscopus super- 

 ci/iosus), a species breeding no nearer to us than 

 the pine forests in the valley of the Yenesay, and 

 wintering in India and China, and which to reach 

 us must have flown more than 3000 miles across 

 Asia and Europe, due west, instead of 3000 miles 

 south into India, wdth an experience of a sea flight 

 (across the German Ocean), which is novel to the 

 migration of this species! How persistently these 

 erring individuals must have stuck to their route, 

 every mile of it never traversed before, and only 

 guided by the hosts of migrants following their 

 normal course ! No less remarkable are the visits of 

 such birds as the Desert Chat {Saxicola deserti), 

 and the eastern race of the Black-throated Chat 

 [Saxicola stapazina), from Turkestan. Or yet 

 again, the visit of the Needle-tailed Swift {Chcetura 

 caudaciUa), from localides at least 3000 miles to 

 the east, a bird whose regular winter quarters are at 

 the Antipodes ! Then we have the visits of the 

 Nearctic Yellow-billed • Cuckoo {Coccijzus ameri- 

 canus), representing a direct flight of 4000 miles 

 or more, with a possible rest at the Bermudas and 

 the Azores by the way ! Or the by no means 

 less wonderful appearance of the American Bittern 

 [Botaurus ientiginoms), a bird that was actually 

 first made known to science from an example shot 

 in Dorset ninety years ago ! 



Common British species are just as likely to 

 blunder on the way as others. The Common 



