xn GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANISMS 357 



petition with the native productions. In other cases, as we 

 have seen, facts of an exactly opposite nature occur. The rat, 

 the pig, and the rabbit, the water-cress, the clover, and many 

 other plants, when introduced into New Zealand, nourish 

 exceedingly, and even exterminate their native competitors ; 

 so that in these cases we may feel sure that the species in 

 question did not exist in New Zealand simply because 

 they had been unable to reach that country by their natural 

 means of dispersal. I will now give a few cases, in addition 

 to those recorded in my previous works, of birds and insects 

 which have been observed far from any land. 



Birds and Insects at Sea. 



Captain D. Fullarton of the ship Timaru recorded in his 

 log the occurrence of a great number of small land-birds about 

 the ship on 15th March 1886, when in Lat. 48° 31' N., Long. 

 8° 1 6' W. He says : "A great many small land-birds about us ; 

 put about sixty into a coop, evidently tired out." And two 

 days later, 17th March, "Over fifty of the birds cooped on 

 15th died, though fed. Sparrows, finches, water- wagtails, two 

 small birds, name unknown, one kind like a linnet, and a large 

 bird like a starling. In all there have been on board over 

 seventy birds, besides some that hovered about us for some 

 time and then fell into the sea exhausted." Easterly winds 

 and severe weather were experienced at the time. 1 The spot 

 where this remarkable flight of birds was met with is about 

 160 miles due west of Brest, and this is the least distance the 

 birds must have been carried. It is interesting to note that 

 the position of the ship is nearly in the line from the English 

 and French coasts to the Azores, where, after great storms, so 

 many bird stragglers arrive annually. These birds were prob- 

 ably blown out to sea during their spring migration along the 

 south coast of England to Wales and Ireland. During the 

 autumnal migration, however, great flocks of birds — especially 

 starlings, thrushes, and fieldfares — have been observed every 

 year flying out to sea from the west coast of Ireland, almost 

 the whole of which must perish. At the Nash Lighthouse, in 

 the Bristol Channel on the coast of Glamorganshire, an enormous 

 number of small birds were observed on 3d September, includ- 

 1 Nat-we, 1st April 1886. 



