Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-10-25

history prisr " - tfne, - y -
ocean. and, viii ssvssel k1ndFed o1hor
immigrants. 1t I'D dsoppsd. - y vsss,
ffsu the clouds upon tks deck 81 she
Clyde. The Clyde left San Domingo
Cry on September 2sth- The follow
ing story Is told by person who was
on hoard
ON last Monday evening the nssr-
est land was the northeast esd OF the
Island Of Ahscoa. aud this was 200
miles southeast BY east. The Barms
DDS we're 40 miles distant, and Turks
island 40 miles. There was no wind
on sea, and ram was falling heavily.
Almost all OF the passengers were as
sembled IN the smoking-rosm amid
SHIPS. The room was small. and the
door had been left open for ventilation.
Suddenly q little bird fiuttercd IN
through the open door, darsed against
the lamp. and fell upon the floor.
Another and another followed.
1wittering was heard outside, and
we found the decks covered with
hundreds OF WINGED creatures. They
seemed to come from esery side. at
tractcd BY the steamers lights. In
few minutes more thrn fifty had ensered
the smoking-room, and bedrsggled little
wretches they were. Their lone fiIvht'
had used them up. We could take ttem
up ike SO many blocks. We pat all
that entered the smo-ing-room under
some hats and left them for the night.
Outside their comrades perched on the
rigging and covered the decks.
Great numbers Of them were
killed by flying against the s.at,-
room windows. Their little bod'cq
were scattered all about the ship.
While we were attending 10 the birds
N the smoking-room some larger birds
that bad perched Oh the rigging were
rsught by officers Of the ship. Among
teen were two hawks. one o. them OF
the smallest known variety, the Hes
tfel. and the other q common hen
hawk. Hawks are usually shy. but 20
tired were these two that they allowed
themselves 10 be captured. The bug
one. however. made savage fight. and
drove his tslons nearly through the
palm OF his captor's hand. We kept
him for two days. but he would not eat.
ard finally he escaped.
- Besides the hawks. two waterfall
were caught. and some birds thrt re-
sembled our catbird, but they were
larger and had brown wings. They
were probably q species Of isy. The
small birds were little larger than
canary and of three varieties. One
kind was yellow. another brown. aud
the smallest and most numerous were
gray, with very sharp beaks. H.
the morning we found a kingfisher
perched IN the rigging. He VS.
rested, and we could not catch
him. He would circle about the
ship few times when started. and then
ahght somewhere else on the ship.
There was a li.tle owi too, that kept
the kinehsher company, hut be soon
disappeared. We intended to kccp
some Of the birds tina, were caged ~
the snoking-room but when the boy
entered 10 clean out II the morning he
saw the hats there. and. gather
ing them up. 10 MS surprise flock
OF birds suddenly tuttered about
hun, and then flew out Of the
open door. They were very tame and
perchoo all about the vessel. The
officers OF the watch said they could
hear birds flying against the side-lights
Of the ship and dropping into the SCI
all nigh Il is evident that there ,covs
Thousands Of birds lYing that night.
We treated our visitors as well as pos
sible, and gave them plenty to eat, but
they did not seem to appreciate our
hospitality, and BY noon almost all Of
them had left u.
" How to account for the appearance
OF these birds Is a question. There
were men Oh board who had travelled
about the world for forty years, and
never had heard OF such a phenOme-
non, much less seen II. There was no
wind. For two days before ard a,te-
tire birds appeared you could have
pulled a shell IN safety on the ocean.
Our theory Is this Abscoa enc Of the
bahamas. is celebrated for birds. You
may always krOw Of its proximity by the
birds that fly about the ship. Now,
the birds th-t came on bOara o. Mon
day evening were Bahama birds, and
they are found al about the lsl~nd OF
AhacOa. We concluded that there was
q local whirlwmd or tornado that took
mp all the land-birds OF certain dis
trlct. and that al,erwRrd. by al upper
current Of aIT. they were swept ont q
sea. There was 10 surface wind or
We should hive felt i. The storm
could not have been general, Tor the
eject OF wind at sea Is felt often N
the swell Of the cc1u, when there l.
10 apparent ar current. We get the
swells Of storms hundreds Of miles
away. but Oh this occasion there
was no swell So the tempest must
have been local. Now, as there wa
no surface breeze there must have been
III upper current that swept the birds
along after they were taken up, for it's
q physical imposs bility for many Of
the birds we found 10 fly $50 miles. /
tine distance Of the nearest land. do /
not believe the small birds, unaidcd. 4
could nave done it. Any one who has
hun,ed rail-birds knows that that
bird could moi fly half the distance.
be RAJ Is q marsh bird. He loves 70
dabble IL the mud along shore where
the reeds and rank grasscs offer
60 er. II he Is hunted ne takes 20 Ms
legs and quickly hides himself. HIS I
wings are ill-h.ted for long flights, and
be seldom rises. Now, TWO Of these
saore-loving rails ran agains, Us 26O
niles from land. Mother CSrey's
,h'ckens are otter found III mid-oceau,
bat they are pecul riy a waterfowl.
The birds we s=w we're all land birds
never found so far at sea. unless BY
ZONE accident. This theory is strength
med by the d yergify IN the birds &