MIGRATORY lilRDS : SPRING 105 



haunts is one of the main characteristics of the spring 

 movements, and is especially in evidence on the British 

 shores, for our isles form one of the last stages in the 

 journey of a vast number of birds on passage to their 

 native lands. 



The birds of passage transmigrating come, 



Unnumbered colonies of foreign wing, 



At Nature's summons. — Mallet. 



The great majority of these voyagers do not tarry 

 with us : indeed, it is a case of " here to-day, off to- 

 morrow." On this account, their visits afford com- 

 paratively few facilities for observation, and hence 

 some species and vast numbers of individuals entirely 

 or largely escape notice — a fact which accounts for the 

 supposed non-appearance of certain birds in the spring 

 which are regularly observed in the autumn. 



Another characteristic of the spring is that the males, 

 the more ardent suitors, of most species, travel in advance 

 of the females and arrive at the nesting quarters some 

 days, it is said in some cases even weeks, before their 

 consorts — a circumstance which affords additional 

 evidence of the enthralling nature of the season. 



The times of the coming of birds of identical species 

 to our shores, depends upon whether the individuals 

 are bent on spending the summer with us, or are 

 birds en route for distant countries. The first to 

 arrive are, undoubtedly, birds seeking their nesting 

 haunts within the British Islands ; the latest are those on 

 their way to summer homes far to the north of us. There 

 are usually many intermediate haunts between southern 

 England and the Arctic countries, and hence birds of 

 the same species arrive on our shores in a series of 

 flights, and at intervals covering in many cases some 



