A Remarkable Flight of Birds (from the journal, Nature, 1895)
On September 30, 1894, about 3 pm, I was observing the sun through an 8-inch telescope when I noticed some dark figures of birds passing, like shadows, across the sun.
I was using a dark glass, and the birds were, consequently, only visible when seen against the bright solar disc.
The silhouettes of the birds were very sharply and clearly cut.
Every few seconds, a bird would emerge from the darkness, pass slowly across the sun and disappear on the other side.
I watched them for over ten minutes without any decrease in their numbers.
The whole number of birds must have been enormous, otherwise it would have been impossible for some of them to have passed as frequently as they did between my telescope and the sun.
The birds were flying in a southerly direction, and were quite invisible to the naked eye.
I was, therefore, unable to determine their distance but should think they must have been two or three miles away for the telescope was in focus for the birds and sun at the same time.
I do not know what birds they were.
Comparing the spread of their wings with the solar disc, I should say their wings subtended an angle of about two minutes.
The place from which I observed them was Shere, a village between Guildford and Dorking.
I am told that such a flight of birds has not before been recorded in this country, and have been urged to publish an account in the hope that other astronomers, who may have seen a similar thing, may be led to mention the fact.
R. A. Bray
Shere
Guildford
Surrey
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