WINTER BIRDS OF PASSAGE 285 



same time ; and they are joined by wandering whimbrels and 

 redshanks and oyster-catchers. As autumn goes on, a 

 greater variety of waders flocks down from the high north. 

 Some of them, like the ruff and the black-tailed godwit, once 

 nested in the English fens, and still breed not far away in 

 Holland and the Baltic basin. Others, like the grey plover 

 and sanderling and knot, are migrants from the swamps that 

 fringe the Arctic sea, and their nests have seldom been seen. 

 Most of these visitors from afar fare still further, and are 

 seen no more after the season of autumn migration ; but some 

 remain to add interest to winter walks and watchings. 



With the woodcock at the end of October comes the 

 'woodcock owl.' The short-eared owl is widely known by 

 this name among sportsmen, because it not only arrives at 

 the same time as the woodcock, but is flushed in the same 

 wet woods and thickets where woodcock lie. The owl has 

 the same accidental connection with the woodcock that the 

 cuckoo's mate, or wryneck, has with the cuckoo. It is the 

 least nocturnal of owls in Britain, except the recently intro- 

 duced little owl, which is now quickly spreading ; and its 

 greyish-buff form is often seen flying low towards twilight 

 over some rushy field or tract of sedgy marsh in quest of 

 field-mice. The barn-owl also flies occasionally before it is 

 yet dark on an autumn or winter afternoon ; but it is paler 

 and brighter in colour, as well as being a little smaller. As 

 is the case with the woodcock, the short-eared owl normally 

 nests in Britain in numbers small in comparison with its 

 winter flights. But the enormous multiplication of breeding 

 birds in the districts of the Scottish lowlands affected by the 

 great vole plague of 1893 w iU l° n g be remembered. The 

 short-eared owls gathered in great numbers to prey on the 

 swarms of voles, and a great number remained to nest in 

 spring. Waxing fat on the unlimited diet, they began to 



