Page:The Migration of Birds - Thomas A Coward - 1912.pdf/137

Rh storms in our islands, account for the death of thousands of travellers. And even in most favourable weather birds fall exhausted. During a stay on the Yorkshire coast in autumn, when migration was evenflowing and unchecked by adverse weather, I found several goldcrests which had reached land only to die, and though most birds came in without showing signs of fatigue, a few larks and starlings were so tired that they made little effort to escape when approached.

Ornithological literature supplies many accounts of more or less similar disasters to migrating birds, but these are enough to show that the perils of migration are not exaggerated.