1 82 THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



much. Again, it is most exasperating to find 

 records based on evidence of the most flimsy kind, 

 and the occurrence of such a species as Tardus 

 pallens, for instance, resting on the identification 

 of a bird-stufFer, who only saw and did not obtain 

 the bird ! Or, worse still, PlujUoscopus fuscatus is 

 admitted to be a bird of Heligoland, because an 

 example was supposed to have been seen ! The 

 evidence is only too apparent that every means has 

 been used to swell tliis list to its greatest possible 

 length, just as certain British naturalists seek to 

 increase the British list on worthless testimony, a 

 method that may suit the collector and the dealer, 

 but ill becomes the man of science. I can safely 

 say I have never met with a list, claiming to be 

 authoritative, in which so many species have been 

 inserted on the most trumpery evidence, during the 

 entire course of my experience. It is an insult to 

 ornithclogical common sense, and in many ways 

 gives the much-maligned Ibis List of British Birds 

 a long start and a good beating ! Bad as this 

 Heligoland list undoubtedly is, it contains, however, 

 certain items of profound interest, illustrating the 

 world-wide wanderings of birds. Some of the most 

 wonderful abnormal bird-flights are those taken by 

 migratory Nearctic Thrushes, such as the visit of 

 Turdits suriinsoni and Turdus migratorius in 

 October 1869 and 1874 respectively. No wonder 

 the latter example was found dead after an ocean 

 flight of so many thousands of miles ! None the 

 less remarkable are the occurrences of Mimiis 



