remarks, it may be here mentioned that young birds appear to wander farther from tlieir native homes
daring the first autumn or year o f their existence than they do afterwards, going out, as it were, to see the
world before settling down for the proper business o f their lives ; hence, doubtless, it is, that the young of
so many o f the rarer northern species (Eagles, Gulls, Divers, &c.) are found further to the south than the
old birds.
With respect to the autumnal departure of many kinds o f our smaller migrants, it would appear th at most,
if not all, of them assemble along our south coast ready for d eparture on the occurrence of a favourable wind.
Having once crossed the Channel to France or Portugal, their further southern journey becomes an easy
one, and is doubtless performed by short stages until they reach the shores o f the Mediterranean, which in
the case o f our own birds is probably crossed a t tbe narrowest portion, viz. Gibraltar, o r some other
promontory o f Southern Spain, their destination being the coast of Morocco. On the other hand, those of
Central Europe migrate by the way o f Sicily and Malta to Algeria, while those which have passed the
summer still further east proceed in a direct line to Egypt. North and south, and vice versa, is in my
opinion their instinctive movement; and this natural impulse is so blindly followed that the Quail, when
migrating, will, if possible, fly through a house or over a mountain rather than turn aside from its course,
which would not be the case were reason its guide ; in this respect it resembles the Norwegian Lemming,
whose onward course is stopped neither by lakes nor hills, and some species o f ants, whose movements are
equally undeviating.
The British Islands and Europe generally, however, to which the foregoing remarks on migration almost
solely refer, are not the only portion o f the globe subject to such interchanges o f bird-life at different
seasons o f the y e a r ; the avifauna o f the great continent o f Asia, a continent having the loftiest mountains,
the most elevated plateaux, and the richest forests in the world, exhibits similar phenomena. So, again, if we
cross the equator and take a view o f what occurs in the southern hemisphere, we shall find th at a precisely
analogous movement takes place there, but o f course a t opposite seasons, the antipodean summer being
coincident with our winter. In many instances bird-life is there represented by species o f a similar form to
tbose we find in our own country, and wbich evince a tendency to a movement north and south at certain
periods o f the year as with ns.
Although in the foregoing remarks I have used the terms migrant and migratory in their ordinary
acceptation, it will be as well before quitting the subject o f migration to place before my readers what I
consider should be the strict meaning of the word migrant. The country a bird resorts to for the propagation
o f its species should be regarded as its true h a b ita t: thus the Swallows and others, although they
pass only half the year in the British Islands, are really not migrants in the same sense o f the term as that
in which we should so regard the Fieldfare and Redwing, who, although resident with us during the winter,
retire to Norway and other northern regions for the purpose of breeding, and who are impelled to visit our
country solely to obtain the food necessary for their existence. But whilst regarding the species visiting us
from the north during the winter months, such as the Woodcock, Ducks, Fieldfares, Redwings, &c., as true
migrants only, it must be recollected that the Swallow, Chaffinch, Cuckoo, &c., species leaving us at the
same portion of the year, are migrants so far as the countries they respectively winter in are concerned.
Could a census be taken o f the smaller birds inhabiting Great Britain, such as Sparrows, Chaffinches,
Buntings, &c., and of the same birds frequenting a similar area on the Continent, there can be little doubt
that the former would greatly outnumber the latter—a circumstance which may be partly due to our islands
affording many more favourable localities, and partly to the fact that our smaller birds are not, as a
rule, killed o r captured for the purposes o f the table, a practice which prevails abroad. Of these the
Whcatear and the Lark are almost the only kind that are thus utilized; but to form an estimate of the
numbers o f the latter obtained by means o f tbe trammel-nets o f the birdcatcher, or of the former captured
on the downs o f Sussex and Kent, is quite impossible. The numbers of many species are, indeed, so great
th at no ju st estimate of the whole can be formed. Thus it has been computed that the Gannets frequenting
the Bass rock cannot be less than twenty thousand; how vast, then, must be the number of that species
alone around our coasts, when we take into consideration that they are proportionally as numerous on Ailsa
Craig and the other rocks on which they are known to b reed ! the myriads also o f the Dunlin and other
strand-loving birds frequenting our bays and inlets are beyond all computation.
Unfortunately, however, o f late years vast numbers of certain species have been destroyed, either wantonly,
or for senseless purposes o f decoration instigated by fashion; and to such an extent has this been carried
th at it has become necessary to enact laws for their protection. Whether such enactments will tend to
prevent the wholesale and cruel destruction of Robins, Kingfishers, Chaffinches, &c., is yet to be seen; at all
events, if a law can be framed to put a stop to these proceedings, it will be most desirable. The magistrate,
however, should have the power of acting according to his judgment when such malpractices are brought
under his notice; for to say that the St.-Kildan (for whom, however, special exception has been made)
should not take the Fulmar or its eggs, which constitute almost his sole subsistence, or that the proprietor
o f the Farn Islands should not collect the down of the Eider, though it may interfere with the health of the
birds, o r th at those delicate morceaux, Plovers’ eggs, should not be taken, would be absurd. Bird-catching
should be restricted to certain seasons; the idler who spreads his nets for the capture of the Swallows that
skim over the mead, or who hangs his invisible snare across the brook for the beautiful Kingfisher to fly into,
the man who professedly catches every Chaffinch in a lane, and the clever scamp who prowls round the edge
o f every shrubbery a t daybreak for the newly arrived Nightingale should be made to know that such practices
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