H. LYNES: MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 139 



I say " considering the Mediterranean Sea as a ivhole," 

 because I do not wish to include in the above statement 

 out-of-the-way corners of the Mediterranean which we 

 did not visit, for these may very likely have a subsidiary 

 migration character of their own ; indeed, an instance of 

 such can be quoted that came under my own observation. 



During September, 1906, H.M.S."Scylla" was at anchor 

 off Alexandretta, in the Gulf of Iskanderun, at the very 

 north-east corner of the Levant. For an hour or so 

 during the forenoon (from memory I think it was about 

 10.30 to 11.30) for several days in succession, there was 

 a considerable stream past the ship of White Storks, 

 about eight or ten every hundred yards, steering a dead 

 straight south-easterly course. They appeared to be 

 flying in rather a leisurely way, between ten and fifty 

 feet above the surface of the water, and were obviously 

 just crossing, by the shortest route, the mouth of the 

 gulf, a distance across the water of some twenty-five 

 miles. On reaching the far shore of the gulf (our side), 

 they stayed their progress a little to assemble, wheeling 

 around and mounting higher and higher, about five 

 thousand strong — an impressive spectacle. Gradually 

 they drew away, still circling round and still apparently 

 rising, until, finally, perhaps half-an-hour after the last 

 of the pack had passed the ship, the whole concourse of 

 Storks became lost to view at an immense height over 

 the hills in the direction of Aleppo ; an exact continuation 

 of the birds' course across the gulf, and a line of flight 

 which suggests that the Storks were bound for India via 

 the Euphrates valley. 



In the following pages are given some of the causes 

 which account for the appearance of birds at a ship at 

 sea in the Mediterranean. 



Cause I. Wind. 



Strong, adverse winds retard a bird's progress, fatigue 

 it and drive it out of its course, of which we have ample 



