OCR Text |
Show 258 ISLAND LIFE. [PART II. 6. Cardinalis vit·ginianus. (The Ca rd .m a1 b.1 r d ·) Migrates from Carolina southward. I d · 7. Chamwpelia passe1·ina. (The Ground Dove.) Louisiana, W. 0 ws, and Mexico. 8. Ortyx vi1·ginianus. (The American Q ua1.1. ) New Ene._:, land to Florida. 9. A1·dea heroclias. (The Great Blue Heron.) All North America. 10. Fulica ame1·icana. (The American Coot.) Temperate and tropical North America. It will be seen that these are all very common North American birds, and most of them are constant visi~ors f~om the mainland, so that however long they may have mhab~ted the islands there has been no chance for them to have acqmred any distinctive characters through isolation. . Among the most regular visitants which are not res1dent, are the common N. American kingfisher (Oeryle alcyon), the wood wagtail (Si1.~rus novceboracensis), the wide. ranging rice-bird (Dolichonyx oryzivm·a), and a moorhen, (Gall~nula galeata); ~he first three being very common over almost all North Amenca, and the last abundant in the southern portion of it. Comparison of the Bird.faunas of Bermuda and the Azores.The bird-fauna of Bermuda thus differs from that of the Azores, in the much smaller number of rssident species, and the presence of several regular migrants. This is due, first, to the small area and little varied surface of these islands, as well as to their limited flora and small supply of insects not affording conditions suitable for the residence of many species all the year round ; and, secondly, to the peculiarity of the climate of North America, which causes a much larger number of its birds to be migratory than in Europe. The Northern United States and Canada, with a sunny climate, luxuriant vegetation, and abundant insect-life during the summer, supply food and shelter to an immense number of insectivorous and frugivorous birds; so that during the breeding season Canada is actually richer in bird-life than Florida. But as the severe winter comes on all these are obliged to migrate southward, some to Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, others as far as the West Indies, Mexico, or even to Guatemala and South America. Every spring and autumn, therefore, a vast multitude of birds, belonging to more than a hundred distinct species, migrate , CHAP. XII.] BERMUDA. 259 northward or southward in Eastern America. A large proportion of these pass along the Atlantic coast, and it has been observed that many of them fly some distance out to sea, passing straight across bays from headland to headland by the shortest route .. Now as the time of those migrations is the season of storms, especially the autumnal one, which nearly coincides with tho hurricanes of the West Indies and the northerly gales of the coast of America, the migrating birds are very liable to be carried out to sea. Sometimes they may, as Mr. Jones suggests, be carried up by local whirlwinds to a great height, where meeting with a westerly or north westerly gale, they are rapidly driven sea-ward. The great majority no doubt perish, but some reach the Bermudas and form one of its most striking autumnal features. In October, Mr. Jones tells us, the sportsman enjoys more shooting than at any other time. The violent revolving gales, which occur almost weekly, bring numbers of birds of many species from the American continent, the different members of the duck tribe forming no inconsiderable portion of the whole; while the Canada goose, and even the ponderous American swan, have been seen amidst the migratory host. With these come also such delicate birds as the American robin (Turdus migratori1..~s), the yellow-rumped warbler (Dendneca coronata), the pine warbler (DendTmca pinus), the wood wagtail (Siurus novcebo'racensis), the summer red bird (Py1·anga cestiva), the snow-bunt· ing (Plectrophanes nivalis), the red-poll (..!Egiothus linari1..~s), the king bird (Tyrannus carolinensis), and many others. It is no doubt in consequence of this repeated immigration that none of the Bermuda birds have acquired any special peculiarity constituting even a distinct variety ; for the few species that are resident and breed in the islands are continually crossed by individual immigrants of the same species from the mainland, Four European birds also .have occurred jn Bermuda ;-the wheatear (Sa..xicola mnanthe), which visits Iceland and Lapland and sometimes the northern United States; the skylark (Alauda arvensis), but this was probably an imported bird or an escape fr0m some ship; the land-rail (CTex p1·atensis), which also wanders to Greenland and the United States; and the common snipe (Scolopax galUnago),. which occurs not unfrequently s 2 |