CHAPTER II 



PARTIAL MIGRANTS 

 (Lapwing and Curlew) 



THE lapwing is a general favourite — particularly 

 among the people of the hills, to whom its first 

 arrival is the earliest sign of spring. I remember 

 how, when a boy, we used in my locality to herald with 

 glee the arrival of the lapwing flocks, and how, early in 

 March, their cheery " kee-witt " along the river margin, 

 the sight of their black and white forms tumbling merrily 

 in the air, meant to us that the long and not over cheerful 

 winter was nearing its close. It was the first outward 

 and visible sign of spring. Blizzard might follow, and 

 for v/eeks yet the river might roar angrily with " Snaw 

 Brew " from the heights, but nevertheless ** the ice was 

 broken " — the lapwings had come ! From that day on 

 the valley was brimming with migrants, almost every 

 hour brought new arrivals from the coast, all following 

 the ancient highway of the river. The curlews were 

 already here. Generally they appear in the hills about 

 February eleventh, the lapwings about February twenty- 

 third (everything, of course, depends on the distance 

 from the sea). It is a curious fact that though the curlews 

 are the first to arrive inland, the lapwings are the first 

 to nest. 



The redshanks are among the early arrivals, flying, 

 alighting, calling, calling, and at night time one hears the 

 soft, romantic piping of these feathered voyagers as they 



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