CHAPTER III. 



STRANGERS OF THE AUTUMN. 



THE number of birds that are regarded by natu- 

 ralists as British amounts to nearly four hundred 

 species. The claims of many of these are very 

 slender, either resting on doubtful authentication, 

 or only on one or two accidental appearances. 

 Some there are that have undoubtedly escaped 

 from captivity ; others appear more or less regu- 

 larly during the periods of migration, more es- 

 pecially in autumn ; whilst a few only visit us at long 

 and uncertain intervals. Of these four hundred 

 species nearly half are only accidental visitors, the 

 bulk of them from the Continent of Europe, but 

 a considerable number from North America, and 

 the least of all from Asia. All these feathered 

 strangers are migratory, and are individuals 

 generally young ones that lose their way in 

 travelling to and from their winter home. The 

 great highways along which migrants travel are 

 extremely complicated, and, to understand the 

 occasional visits of some of these birds, we must 

 make ourselves acquainted with the paths by 



