North-A'merican Birds crossing the Atlantic. 25 



Germany, Holstein, Austria, and Italy ; Phaleris psittaculus 

 having been found only in Sweden, and Uria columha only in 

 the Spitzbergen seas. 



Where I have ascertained the date, I find that, out of ninety- 

 two occurrences, six have taken place in January, six in February, 

 four in Marcli, three in April, four in May, six in June, one in 

 July, eight in August, twelve in September, fifteen in October, 

 five in November, and four in December, while one is marked 

 spring, one summer, four autumn, and twelve winter. Altogether 

 twelve instances in spring as against thirty-six in autumn. 



Concerning the routes and means by wliich these visitors have 

 reached us from America I can say but little.* A few may have 

 escaped from aviaries or from ornamental waters, and in our 

 climate, having met with surroundings not very different from 

 those of their native land, and having been for some time at 

 liberty, and successfully accomplished their moult, they may have 

 become indistinguishable from a purely wild bird. But I am of 

 opinion that their number is but few. Among the land birds it 

 is highly improbable that the small warblers, the cuckoos, the 

 kingfishers, and others, which are seldom or never kept in confine- 

 ment, should have been brought over here as caged birds, and the 

 large percentage of all which occur in the latter part of autumn or 

 in winter (especially among the waders) would lead us to suppose 

 that they were members of the great flocks of American birds 

 which breed every summer in the north, where the Atlantic is 

 contracted to its narrowest limits, and the eastern land most 

 nearly approaches to the west. On their return southward their 

 numbers are composed largely of young birds who are seeking 

 a land where they have never been before, and who, from their 

 youth, are less able than their parents to contend with rough 

 weather and contrary winds. Adverse gales carry them far to 

 the eastward, and, blown out of their course, their return is im- 

 possible against the strong westerly winds which prevail so much 

 at this time of the year, and by which they are borne irresistibly 

 eastwards, a few of those who survive finally reaching our shores 

 in company with our own migrants returning from the north. 



The comparative absence of American visitors from the flocks 

 migrating northward in spring along our coasts, is easily accounted 



* On this subject vide Professor Baird's article in the " American Journal of Science 

 and Art," Vol. XVI. May, 1866. 



