THE PERILS OF MIGRATION. i8i 



Snipe (Scolopax gallinago) has wandered to the 

 Bermudas; the Common Heron i^Ardea d)wrt(i) 

 has visited Greenland more than once ; the Corn 

 Crake (Crew pratensis) has strayed as far as the 

 Atlantic States of America, and even to New 

 Zealand! Again, the Redwing {Tardus iliacu.s) 

 has been known to visit Greenland, the Woodcock 

 (Scolopax riLsticola) New Jersey and Virginia ! 

 Lost birds from one region are continually turning 

 up in other regions throughout the world; it is the 

 rule ratiier than the exception. As the avifauna of 

 each country becomes more closely studied, these 

 instances of lost birds will undoubtedly be found to 

 be more numerous than is at present suspected. 

 Of the thousands of birds that annually lose their 

 way on migration, but very few are ever captured 

 or recorded. It is only when these wandering 

 individuals enter a district bristling with enthusi- 

 astic ornithologists and sportsmen that they are 

 liable to be captured ; and even then not one in 

 ten is probably observed. 



Whilst on the subject of lost birds our attention 

 naturally turns towards Heligoland, the place of all 

 others where watch has been most strictly kept for 

 their appearance. The publication last year of 

 Gatke's long-expected and long-delayed volume, 

 Die Fogelwarte Helgoland, enables us to form 

 some idea of the number of birds that lose them- 

 sehxs on passage ; but after all, the Hst of birds 

 occurring on the much-vaunted island is, to say 

 the least, disappointing. Perhaps we expected too 



