THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 127 



to Whitby. They were seen to arrive by hundreds 

 on the beach, so fatigued and overcome by an un- 

 favourable change of wind, by the length of their 

 journey, or both combined, as to drop the moment 

 they reached land, incapable of further exertion. 



Mr. Cordeaux, in his Birds of the Humber 

 District, states that on the coasts of Yorkshire and 

 Lincolnshire the autumnal migration of the Gold- 

 crest is as well ascertained as that of the Woodcock, 

 and from its usually arriving just before that species, 

 it is known as the " Woodcock-pilot," while the 

 North Sea fishermen have told him that it often 

 alights on their smacks, and in foggy weather 

 perishes by hundreds. On the Norfolk coast, 

 according to Mr. Stevenson, much the same thing 

 has been observed. 



Mr. E. T. Booth says " I have never myself 

 met with this species while crossing the North Sea 

 during the autumnal migration, but several fisher- 

 men (who know the bird well) have assured me that 

 scores have occasionally settled on their boats to 

 rest ; one man in particular stating that they would 

 roost all night in any shelter they could find, some 

 creeping into the blocks, where, he remarked, they 



