SUMMER VISITORS TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 7 



We will not stay on the Downs, but will go to a likely 

 spot to see the first arrival of the visitors. Suppose we go 

 to Combe Dingle, for that always seems the place where 

 they are to be seen first. If in our eagerness we have not 

 gone too early, we shall presently see a small olive-green 

 bird flitting along from bush to bush, searching for insects 

 in the leaves, and at times catching one in the air. Perhaps 

 farther up the valley we may see another, behaving in the 

 same way and making no sound. There is no doubt about 

 it, the chiffchaff has come, and spring has begun at last. 



I feel convinced myself that the first arrivals of many of 

 the warblers reach this neighbourhood by coming down the 

 Severn Valley, and not in the opposite direction as might 

 be expected. Very possibly parties of migrants travelling 

 directly northwards from the south coast may arrive here 

 later, but the first to come are travelling down the Severn 

 Valley ; where they enter the valley I do not know. Last 

 spring a chiffchaft* was seen in Combe Dingle on March 

 16th, and on March 19th I saw one in the same spot; he 

 was not moving on at all, nor making any sound, and I 

 am inclined to think he may have been there all the winter. 

 On the 23rd, in the Penpole fields I saw two chiflchaffs ; 

 one was calling, but a strong wind made it difficult to 

 hear. At this time I believe there were none in the Leigh 

 Woods. On March 26th I had a most delightful experi- 

 ence ; with a friend, Mr. D. T. Price, I went out to Pilning 

 in the flat fields by the Severn to see if we could detect any 

 migratory movement, and we spent the afternoon watch- 

 ing chiifchaffs steadily moving on down the valley. They 

 came steadily, by short flights, following the hedges, singly 

 and in parties of two or three, some silent and some continu- 

 ally calling. Now and then, when the sun shone brightly, 

 one would break into song. They could not be persuaded to 



