98 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



Britain, and is rarely seen to attempt a sustained 

 flight, the instinct for migration is strong within it 

 as a species. At the end of October vast flocks 

 often appear on the east coast, arriving a little in 

 advance of the Woodcocks. The Golden-crest has 

 thus come to be known, in some places, as the 

 Woodcock pilot. 



Spurn Point, on the Yorkshire coast, is one of the 

 first landing-places of these tiny travellers on their 

 way south from the far-off Scandinavian fir forests. 

 Here on the sand-dunes, overgrown with marram- 

 grass and bordered on the south by the vast mud- 

 flats of the Humber, they may be seen flitting in all 

 directions amidst the bents, often so weary that they 

 make little effort to evade the passer-by. The late 

 Mr. Cordeaux, in his Birds of the Humher District, 

 states that, belated in the fog, they sometimes 

 descend upon the North Sea fishing smacks, and 

 that manv hundreds perish in the sea. 



Shrikes and Flycatchers 



Of the four Shrikes — the Greater and Lesser 

 Grey, the Woodchat and the Red-backed, the last 

 alone may be said to be a familiar bird. 



The Great Grey Shrike is a winter visitor to Great 

 Britain, whilst the Lesser appears on the summer 

 migration. Each is of more or less uncommon 

 occurrence. Of the Woodchat, so few well-attested 

 appearances had been noted that, until compar- 

 ativelv recent years, doubts were expressed as to 

 the propriety of including it in the British list 

 at all. 



