I 9 4 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



migration as observed during much time spent in this most 

 fascinating study in our area of Solway. 



The first birds to leave us are the adult Cuckoos, many 

 going off by the last week in June, and one seen later than 

 mid-July is a fact worth noting. 



The next to go is the Swift, and the suddenness of its 

 departure is remarkable. Up till about the end of the first 

 week in August the species is as familiar here as elsewhere. 

 To watch their superlatively graceful flight high in air, as 

 they wheel in circles, and curves, and all manner of 

 geometric evolutions, is one of the most pleasing of occupa- 

 tions. Some evening they are there as usual, sweeping 

 along in unrivalled power of motion, but it may perhaps be 

 noticed that their skirling calls are unheard. The birds 

 are higher and steadier, and the manner of their flight does 

 not seem so exuberant. Perhaps we do not take much 

 notice of these points. But next day, sometime, we 

 suddenly awake to the fact that no Swifts are to be seen. 

 Gone they are, and completely ; we shall see not one, until 

 some fine May morning we become aware that the Swifts 

 are back, as silently and suddenly as they left us nine 

 months before. 



By the time we have realised that the passing of the 

 Cuckoo and the Swift has taken place the preliminary 

 preparations of other birds have begun. The Swallows 

 and Martins begin to flock together, and to sit in rows 

 upon the telegraph wires and house roofs. Curlews are 

 heard high above, uttering their familiar calls as they 

 travel in twos and threes shorewards. Lapwings and 

 Plovers have left their nesting quarters. Small passerine 

 birds gather into groups, and these accumulate in the 

 copses and hedges, towards the Galloway and Dumfriesshire 

 coasts. From mid-August till mid-September, year after 

 year, the number of birds (as was long ago noticed by 

 Robert Gray) that crowd down upon the shore line is 

 immense indeed. The first few hours of daylight on 

 certain September mornings will show these small land 

 birds sitting about the rocks, and cliffs, and flat merses 

 alongshore in great abundance. Many a time I have lain 

 in hiding amongst the rocks at the point of the long 



