251 
birds were so plentiful on the coast of 
Kent, that they were reduced to a state of 
starvation, and suffered themselves to be 
knocked down with sticks; such a vast 
number of these birds were killed that they 
were carried in carts to the neighbouring 
towns and sold at six-pence each. They 
were almost innumerable about Sandwich 
in the winter of 1803, and so debilitated, as 
not to be able to rise after alighting, and 
many were caught by the hand. 
It is a curious circumstance that such 
occasional excesses in the migration of 
some particular species, should occur so 
locally. Montagu assures us, that during 
the seasons above mentioned when these 
birds were so numerous on the eastern 
coasts of the kingdom, not a single in- 
stance came within his knowledge of any 
being observed on the west; yet in the 
year 1800 about Christmas, they were 
common contiguous to the coast of south 
J)eyon. 
