WANDERERS. 269 



one, visits us, but it is very uncertain in its appear- 

 ance. Some birds keep only to places where the 

 supply of food is confined to certain limits ; and this 

 bird appears to be one of these, having a decided 

 preference for fir-woods. That it has been killed in 

 Scotland is not to be wondered at ; but it is a rare 

 visitant, blown over, probably much against its will, 

 from more northern countries. Nothing surprises 

 me more than the general opinion concerning the 

 flights of rare visitors. Frequently I have been asked 

 where are the real homes of some of the wanderers 

 that reach us, and I have answered to the best of 

 my ability ; but it is very difficult to determine the 

 real home of birds that are certainly known to have 

 several in the course of a year. Our most common 

 birds are for ever on the shift, hundreds in a place for 

 a few days, and then gone again. How do they fly, 

 thousands of miles some of them, without resting ? 

 They do not do this ; but they do not stay here. 

 Would you, or could you, walk one hundred miles, 

 or half that distance, without resting ? Certainly not ; 

 the idea would be ridiculous. And the birds could 

 no more keep on flying for thousands of miles than 

 you could keep on walking your fifty or a hundred. 



