268 



ISLAND LIFE 



PART II 



the night-hawk {Chordeiles virginianus), the ¥/ood wagtail 

 (SiuTus novceboracensis), the snow-bunting (Pledrophanes 

 nivalis), and the wide-ranging rice-bird (Dolichonyx 

 oryzivora), all very common and widespread in North 

 America. 



Comparison of the Bird-fa%tnas of Bermuda and the 

 Azores. — The bird-fauna of Bermuda thus differs from that 

 of the Azores, in the much smaller number of resident species, 

 and the presence of several regular migrants. This is due, 

 first, to the small area and little varied surface of these 

 islands, as well as to their limited f3ora and small supply 

 of insects not affording conditions suitable for the residence 

 of many species all the year round ; and, secondly, to the 

 peculiarity of the climate of North America, which causes 

 a much larger number of its birds to be migratory than in 

 Europe. The Northern United States and Canada, with 

 a sunny climate, luxuriant vegetation, and abundant insect- 

 life during the summer, supply food and shelter to an im- 

 mense number of insectivorous and frugivorous birds ; so 

 that during the breeding season Canada is actually richer 

 in bird-life than Florida. But as the severe winter comes 

 on all these are obliged to migrate southward, some to 

 Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, others as far as the West 

 Indies, Mexico, or even to Guatemala and South America. 



Every spriog and autumn, therefore a vast multitude of 

 birds, belonging to more than a hundred distinct species, 

 migrate northward or southward in Eastern America. A 

 large proportion of these pass along the Atlantic coast, and 

 it has been observed that many of them fly some distance 

 out to sea, passing straight across bays from headland to 

 headland by the shortest route. 



Now as the time of these migrations is the season of 

 storms, especially the autumnal one, which nearly coincides 

 with the hurricanes of the West Indies and the northerly 

 gales of the coast of America, the migrating birds are very 

 liable to be carried out to sea. Sometimes they may, as 

 Mr. Jones suggests, be carried up by local whirlwinds to a 

 great height, where meeting with a westerly or north 

 westerly gale, they are rapidly driven sea- ward. The great 

 majority no doubt perish, but some reach the Bermudas 



