LINES OF MIGEATION. Ixvii 



however, tliink it is certain that many species (including Warblers 

 and birds -with low powers of flight) do not fear to cross salt water 

 even for considerable distances. In some cases they are probably 

 induced to do so to save time and space, but we fancy the reason is 

 often that the temperature is higher over the ocean than over the 

 land at the period of the autumnal migration, and by keeping out 

 to sea they find a genial warmth in the air that must greatly help 

 them to bear up on their long journey. We have ourselves seen 

 Snow-Buntings in numbers steadily flying to the south-west in 

 October (1859) hundreds of miles from American land in the 

 latitude of Newfoimdland, and in the same month in 1888, as 

 mentioned by us in the ^ Zoologist^ for 1889 (p. 22), we saw many 

 American Warblers and other birds migrating at a considerable 

 distance (378 miles) from the coast ofi' New York. Humming- 

 Birds, Warblers, and various short-winged birds are known to 

 visit Bermuda. We saw flocks of Sky-Larks and a Robin in the 

 Bay of Biscay on October 27, 1861, and a Woodcock on the next 

 day, scudding before a north-easterly breeze towards the S.W., 

 going at a great pace, 236 miles S.E. of the Lizard in lat. 47° 5' N., 

 long. 9° 14' W.* One of the most remarkable things that have 

 been brought to light about the migration of birds is that in 

 autumn Starlings and some other birds are seen still flying west- 

 wards from the western coasts of Ireland ; and Starlings have been 

 taken in large numbers on board vessels hundreds of miles out in 

 the Atlantic, yet only one individual is known to have ever reached 

 Greenland. All sorts of theories have been propounded to account 

 for this apparently suicidal tendency. The Starling is one of the 

 most intelligent of birds, and its enormous increase in Devonshire 

 shows it is well able to take care of itself. We would suggest tliat 

 the huge migratory flocks have the instinct to make their ''westing" 

 where the degrees of longitude are short, Avithout going too far 

 northwards, and Ijy getting a good " ofiing '^ from the land before 

 keeping away to the south, they are enabled to avoid the mountain 

 ranges of Spain and the Peninsula, and to " fetch " the Azores, 

 Madeira, and the north-west coast of Africa. The winds arc 



* In the 'Field' for January 16th, 1892, Mr. II. Bendelack Ilewetson, of 

 II. M.S. ' Oriont,' states that at 10 a.m. on January 8th, wliile crossing the l>ay of 

 iJiscay, a Woodcock Mas seen flying close to the sliip in lat. 40° 8' N., long. 

 7° 16' W., wind fresh from N.K. 



