Evening star., 1916-05-28
Strange Bird Migrations.


that birds are not so invariable in
their migratory habits as most persons
suppose. If, for instance. the season
is warm. or there is sufficient food for
them in the north, the birds are late in
starting south
Nevertheless. the month of October
is a sort of starting point in the
records of the ornithological societies
But it is not infrequently the case that
birds that migrate in large numbers on
october 81 one year have either not
arrived or have passed south earlier on
the corresponding date of previous
years.
THE Accidental Visitors List" kept
by the London Geological Society. is
a record of all birds observed in Great
Britain and on the British coasts that
are not Indigenous to the British Isles
but have flown thither from the conti-
nent. In England, naturalists, orni-
biologists, lighthouse keepers, masters
of vessels. coast guardsmen. farmers
and country gentlemen gladly report
strange birds that they may observe
and give the date and circum stances of
the observation. An examination of
The Accidental Visitors List" reveals
many curious happenings.
Birds native to eastern Siberia and
China, North Africa and the arctic re-
gions have thus been observed in Great
Britain. but, of course. at rare inter-
walls. There are, however. good many
recorded instances of American birds
crossing the Atlantic and being seen or
shot in Great Britain. An extraordi-
nary instance was that of a Canada owl
that alighted in an exhausted condition
on board a vessel off the coast of Corn
wall in 1880. The bird was SO fatigued
with it's long flight across the Atlantic
that it offered not the slightest resist
ance when handled by the sailors.
Carolina cuckoo was shot in Wales
in February, 1888, by Lord Cawdord
In 1881 an American wood duck was
killed at Dorking, England. In 1872
three specimens of Cassins snow goose,
a native of Labrador. were seen on the
west coast of Ireland. The American
societies have also record of five
individuals of this species shot in
Chesapeake bay in 1871. The, London
Geological Society also maintains an
accidental visitors list of fishes as
well as of birds. and the same thing
is done at the fish commission lab
oratory at Woods Hole, Mass.
These curious wanderers into an
other continent are doubtless the
young of some migratory flock. Such a
flock is led by an old and experienced
bird. which knows the route north and
south. Occasionally birds that have
never before been over the aerial road
may get separated from the flock
They become bewildered and fly about,
quite at loss until they reach land !;
where that may be is entirely a matter
of chance.
Now and then birds that are not
strictly migratory gather in enormous
focks and sweep over several hundred
miles of country. The cause that i'm
pels them to such action is still mys-
terry. Many years ago Turkey and Bull
garia were invaded by enormous flocks
of the rose-colored pastor. These birds
proved destructive to the vineyards
and growing crops, and the peasants
had to turn out in force and kill them
by the hundreds flock of these
birds would strip tree of fruit in less
time than it takes to tell it, and there
were public rejoicings in places after
the vast f1ocks had passed. So little is
known of the cause of such migrations
that the bird societies everywhere are
constantly on the alert to note any
unusual happenings of this sort.