144 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The next few minutes brought some Turtle-Doves, 

 Whinchats, a Wheatear and more Wagtails. The Turtle- 

 Doves, I think, settled in the rigging, the Whinchats 

 were quite tired out and could only sit miserably hunched 

 up, and next day two of them were found dead in the 

 boats. 



About 5.30 Swallows started to arrive, and their 

 numbers rapidly increased until Swallows were perched 

 all over the ship in the most confiding way. They would 

 crowd up together on the rim of a ventilator or a hatchway 

 rail, heads and tails, as if to keep one another warm, and 

 they did not mind us in the least when we walked up 

 within a foot of them. They subsequently roosted all 

 over the ship, several inside the chart-house, in the 

 captain's cabin (half-deck) ; there must have been more 

 than one hundred Swallows roosting altogether. Many 

 were captured by the ship's company and liberated again. 

 Although obviously very tired those Swallows that came 

 under our particular notice did not seem to be wet, at 

 any rate, not drenched. 



After dinner some of the officers were walking up and 

 down the quarterdeck, lighted by a single electric light 

 underneath the awning ; a Swallow hovered over them 

 and actually settled on the head of one, who was wearing 

 a cap with a white cover on it, put its head under its 

 scapulars and went to sleep. The officer took his cap 

 off and put it down on a grating ; the Swallow just raised 

 its head for a moment, then tucked it away again and 

 was at once asleep. 



Other arrivals at 5.30 included a Sparrow-Hawk, 

 which flew around the ship, but was not observed to 

 take any birds ; several Pied Flycatchers, one a male 

 in very fine adult plumage, and a rather wet male 

 Subalpine Warbler. The Pied Flycatchers increased in 

 numbers, and at dark, about seven o'clock, there were 

 numbers .roosting about the ship. Two, a male and a 

 female, were brought to me from the captain's cabin, 

 which they had entered through the open stern-door ; 



