CHAPTER III 



THE BRITISH ISLES AND THEIR MIGRATORY BIRDS 



It may be asserted without fear of contradiction, that no 

 country in the world is more favourably situated than 

 our own for witnessing the movements of migratory 

 birds ; that there is none in which the many phases of 

 the phenomenon are of a more varied nature ; and none in 

 which the subject has received greater attention. 



The reason for this pre-eminence is not difficult 

 to discover. The geographical position of our isles 

 is favourable for the visits of migratory birds to a 

 remarkable degree. They are interposed between the 

 great south-western extension of Europe (the Iberian 

 peninsula) and Scandinavia on the one hand, and the 

 main mass of Continental Europe and the great islands 

 of Iceland and Greenland on the other. Thus they 

 are situated between the winter retreats and the summer 

 quarters of hosts of birds, and lie in the direct course 

 of vast multitudes of migrants which for weeks during 

 each season of migration rush — northwards in spring 

 and southwards in autumn — along our shores. Indeed, 

 so central is our position, that it may be likened unto 

 a great junction — one where many travellers meet and 

 change their course to reach accustomed haunts in 

 widely different lands beyond our shores, 



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