Country diary 1923: lost little auks end their days in Britain

Almost every winter some little auks end their days in Britain, and from time to time there is a regular invasion of these tiny travellers from the Arctic. They are driven ashore and often far inland when on their autumn passage from the far north to the warm seas off the African coast. A few pass south by way of the Irish Sea, but far more journey by the North Sea, and the east coast knows them better than the west. Two were found in a drain near the Humber bank; one was alive, but my informant believes that certain wires alongside the railway had stopped their travels.

A third bird reached me by post; it had been picked up near Halifax, and though allowed liberty and offered food, which it refused, died when apparently quite active after a swim in a large bowl. Lack of suitable food in inland localities ends most of these lost travellers. The sender asks why it could not continue its flight when it was all “bright and lively until just before its death”; its little body needed stoking, for it was not in any way injured, but its stomach was empty. These three wanderers were, no doubt, stragglers from a large party which had passed the Yorkshire coast; very likely we shall hear of many more unfortunates, for the casualties during migration are numerous.