BIRDS LOST IN STORMS 



THE possible existence of a 'sense of locality' to 

 guide birds when migrating is not contradicted by 

 the fact that birds are constantly ' lost/ and wander 

 over enormous distances of land and sea, not knowing 

 how to return to their familiar haunts. * Lost ' birds 

 are nearly always the victims of severe gales which 

 carry them completely out of their reckoning. After 

 storms of exceptional violence in the Atlantic accounts 

 are certain to appear in the papers of ocean-birds which 

 have been driven from distant seas, and even from 

 other continents, or the New World itself, and have 

 drifted to the rain-soaked fields of England. No 

 doubt all shore-birds are liable to be driven inland 

 during a gale ; but these are rarely, if ever, lost in a 

 storm. Every seagull and cormorant, puffin or razor- 

 bill, has its own home, the particular shelf or ledge 

 of cliff on which it sleeps every night, and from 

 wl^ich it launches itself over the sea when the first 

 streak of dawn appears upon the waters. But these 



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