294 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



draggled wretches we had been accustomed to 

 see; they are now lively, happy birds with a 

 splendid gloss on their feathers and beaks as 

 bright a yellow as the blackbird's. Finally, in 

 April they left us, not going in a body, but flock 

 by flock, day after day, until by the end of the 

 month all were gone back to their homes in the 

 north — all but the two or three to half a dozen 

 pairs in each village. And these few that stay be- 

 hind are new colonists in West Cornwall. 



