THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 6l 



of the non-appearance of this plover in Europe supplies 

 far weightier evidence against the theory of migrants 

 being driven out of their course by storms than all the 

 known instances of the occurrence of strangers ever 

 furnished in its favour. 



At the time when the question of a possible flight from 

 America to Europe was first mooted, an achievement of 

 this kind appeared utterly beyond the capacity for flight 

 possessed by birds, so far as this was understood, and 

 consequently was dismissed as impossible, without being 

 even deemed worthy of further investigation. Harting 

 still remains very undecided in his opinion on this 

 question. Thus in one place he says that it is extremely 

 hard to believe that birds, other than natatorial species, 

 should have succeeded in crossing the Atlantic, but adds 

 that most of them nevertheless have accomplished this 

 feat, because, on the one hand, many which have occurred 

 in England or Ireland have never been observed anywhere 

 on the continent of Europe. He, however, considerably 

 weakens his argument when he goes on to say that there 

 was probably good reason for suspecting that many of 

 the smaller of these birds largely availed themselves of the 

 rigging of ships in the course of this passage, overlooking 

 the fact that the hours lost by the birds during such rests 

 only prolong the time which they have to pass without 

 nourishment. The same argument might be urged with 

 equal force in the case of all swimming birds belonging 

 to the Anatidae which might purpose to interrupt their 

 flight across the ocean, for even if we allow that all such 

 birds are diving ducks i.e., Platypeds (which", however, 

 is certainly not trie case), the depth of the water in mid- 

 ocean is such as would quite preclude their search after 

 any kind of food. 



From the foregoing facts the probability of a voluntary 

 and direct flight can hardly any longer be open to doubt. 

 It remains for us, therefore, to establish the possibility of 

 such a flight. The stretch of ocean between Newfound- 

 land and the west coast of Ireland covers at least sixteen 



