THE NORTH SEA. 
337 
the swallows and willow-wrens arrive in England, 
and they must cross the Channel ? Has migration 
ever been seen in full swing by daylight? I mean 
the actual process of migration, as distinguished from 
mere evidences of its progress. Sitting on mild Novem¬ 
ber nights in my garden at Eoker, with nothing but the 
North Sea between us and the fjelds of Norway or the 
sand-dunes of Jutland, I have listened to the single pipe 
of the redwings (and less often the note of fieldfares, 
which are more silent) as they “ made the land ” between 
ten and eleven o’clock. These birds, presumably, had 
left the opposite shore at dusk that evening, and had 
covered some three-hundred-and-fifty miles in five or 
six hours. No one sees them start, no one witnesses 
their arrival. But of course the North Sea passage is 
merely exercise for strong-dying species. Is it the 
same with the feebler kinds ? 
In reply, I will venture on a somewhat bold opinion. 
I am convinced that many birds of migratory habits are 
absolutely incapable, under normal conditions, of flying 
three hundred miles, or anything like it. Among such I 
would include all short-winged warblers, chats, and gold- 
crests, quail, landrail, etc. These birds are neither 
“ built nor engined ” for long flights ; in their normal 
lives they never undertake such flights, and I do not 
believe, under ordinary conditions, that they are capable 
of performing them. No one who has watched their 
feeble, flickering flight in mid-sea can believe it. Yet, 
on the other hand, we have confronting us the solid 
fact that twice in every year these tiny creatures do 
traverse Europe from end to end. The solution I 
am neither learned enough nor clever enough to 
z 
