MIGRATORY BIRDS: SPRING 107 



tion to include in the category of spring the wintry 

 month of February. Yet within its allotted days 

 movements take place which from their very nature, 

 namely, the seeking of nesting haunts, are strictly in 

 consonance with those of spring. This month, however, 

 belongs to both spring and winter in its migration 

 aspects ; here we are only concerned with those of 

 the former season. 



Local Movements. — The earliest of the February 

 movements relate to visits to summer quarters of birds 

 which have passed the winter in British retreats not very 

 far removed from the nesting area. Should the month 

 prove a genial one, from its second week onwards it 

 may witness the return to the upland woodlands of the 

 Song-Thrushes which quitted them during the previous 

 autumn; of the Redshanks, Curlews, Snipe, and Meadow- 

 Pipits to the moorlands ; and of the Skylarks and Lap- 

 wings to the higher pastures, etc. During the month, too, 

 there are return movements of Pied Wagtails, Meadow- 

 Pipits, Skylarks, Lapwings, Oyster-catchers, etc., to the 

 Orkneys and to northern localities on the mainland ; and 

 the Gannets, Kittiwakes, Black Guillemots, Common 

 Guillemots, Razorbills, and other maritime species pay 

 visits to their breeding places. 



The experiences of some of these earliest visitors to 

 their summer quarters are generally of an unfortunate 

 nature, especially for the ground-loving species, inas- 

 much as a return of winter conditions, with their pall 

 of snow or frost-bound lands, is almost certain to follow 

 and to drive them ruthlessly away. Later, in March, 

 and even in April, such a renewal of winter ends in 

 disaster, for then they are loth to quit their haunts, and 

 perhaps their nests, and many perish. 



