88 HIEUNDO RUSTIC A. 



the well-known fact that a sudden chop or shift is fatal to multitudes, almost 

 to extermination at times), yet some slight control may be granted; for it 

 is manifest to us at Brighton that, on dirty nights, the travellers in the 

 Channel seek the shelter of the shore and the protection of the land; then 

 it is that they come low over the gas-lights of the town, or to some water 

 on which the light shines, or to a lighthouse. 



Experience proves that a very violent storm does no great amount of 

 harm to birds, at least on the south coast. It is a succession of gales, and, 

 as said above, sudden changes of wdnd, which fill the houses and areas with 

 unhappy migrants, and causes them to seek shelter under up-turned boats 

 and any refuge at hand. So we find Petrels in beef-and-ham shops. Wood- 

 cocks in villa-gardens, and (September 28th, 1875) such a bird as the 

 Pied Flycatcher QMuscicapa atricapilla) in the Grand Hotel, with other 

 misplacements too numerous to mention. 



Take, now, an example. In a gale a strong man, at Brighton, has to 

 cling to the rails ; weaker persons are constantly thrown down. Yet the 

 common Goldcrest (^Regulus cristatus, K. L. Koch*) passes to and fro with great 

 regularity, and very frequently comes into our houses; a male bird flew 

 into my dining-room, about 7 o'clock in the morning, October 17th, 1874. 

 How is it possible that its feeble strength could contend with a gale .^ Being 

 a soft-feathered bird, it could not have the wind behind it, or its plumage 

 would be wrong. 



We all remember how this species is killed in numbers and washed ashore 

 at times. It is caught by a sudden change of wind. When it migrates with 

 safety it is assisted by the wind : a chain is tested by its feeblest link. 



My idea about finding the way is this. The bird has as much to do 

 with it as a man starting from London to York by the railway. He finds 

 his way : steam conveys him ; wind takes the bird. If the steam blows up, 

 the passenger is killed ; if the wind changes, the bird dies. 



I look upon migration in birds &c. as analogous to the tides. 

 ^ Saugethiere und Vogel Baierns, p. 199 (1816). 



