CHAP. XII.] 



BERMUDA. 



259 



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 meet- 

 ing with a westerly or north westerly gale, they are rapidly 

 driven sea-ward. The great majority no doubt perish, but some 

 reach the Bermudas and form one of its most striking autumnal 

 features. In October, Mr. Jones tells us, the sportsman enjoys 

 more shooting than at any other time. The violent revolving 

 gales, which occur almost weekly, bring numbers of birds of 

 many species from the American continent, the different 

 members of the duck tribe forming no inconsiderable portion 

 of the whole ; while the Canada goose, and even the ponderous 

 American swan, have been seen amidst the migratory host. With 

 these come also such delicate birds as the American robin {Turdiis 

 migratorms) , the yellow-rumped warbler {Dendronca coroncUa) , the 

 pine warbler [Dendroeca pinus) , the wood wagtail (Siur^is novccbor- 

 accnsis), the summer red bird {Fyramja wstiva), the snow-bunt- 

 ing {PlectrojjJianes nivalis), the red-poll {jEgiotlius linarius), the 

 king bird {Tyr annus carolinensis) , and many others. It is no doubt 

 in consequence of this repeated immigration that none of the 

 Bermuda birds have acquired any special peculiarity consiituting 

 even a distinct variety ; for the few species that are resident 

 and breed in the islands are continually crossed by individual 

 immigrants of the same species from the mainland, 



Four European birds also have occurred in Bermuda ; — the 

 wheatear {Saxicola cenanthe), which visits Iceland and Lapland 

 and sometimes the northern United States; the skylark 

 {Alaiida arvensis), but this was probably an imported bird or an 

 escape from some ship; the land-rail (Crex iiratensis), which 

 also wanders to Greenland and the United States ; and the com- 

 mon snipe {Scoloimc gallinago), which occurs not unfrequently 



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