THE HOME OF THE WILLOW-WREN 



CERTAIN events stand out prominently in the 

 calendar of the naturalist-sportsman ; just as 

 the middle of October marks the coming of the 

 woodcock, and suggests the immigration of our 

 winter bird-visitors, so the middle of May is 

 associated with the arrival of the spotted fly- 

 catcher from the south, '' the last of our migrants, 

 a laggard." With the spotted fly-catcher the 

 coming of our welcome woodland visitors is 

 ended ; our resident birds should then have 

 built their nests and hatched their young. The 

 insectivorous birds that in our northern summer 

 find food plentiful, even for their fastidious 

 appetites, should either be building, or about to 

 build, the homes wherein their eggs are to be 

 laid and their fledglings hatched, with such 

 promptitude that autumn will witness a goodly 

 company of fleet-winged emigrants following 

 the sun to southern climes. The swift is by no 

 means the first of our visitors from distant 

 shores. The martins begin to arrive in the middle 

 of April — ^the swift delays his journey till a 

 fortnight afterwards. But his stay is shoit, and 



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