xiv MIGRATION 363 



arc most necessary, in order to keep the troop 

 together, or, possibly, in clear weather the flight may 

 be at too high a level for us to hear them. Around 

 lighthouses, sometimes over inland towns, there is a 

 perfect babel of sounds, among which a practised 

 ornithologist can generally distinguish the notes of 

 particular species. Superstition sometimes finds in 

 the cry of the Wild Goose an omen of death. 



Order of Departure. 



In autumn the young birds, of many species at any 

 rate, start first ; then after an interval, sometimes 

 extending to a month or two, follow the old birds, and 

 after them some irregular flights, probably consisting 

 mainly of cripples and young birds hatched late. 

 Swallows often pass Heligoland in November, and in 

 England stray specimens may be seen as late as that. 

 About the same time as the great flights of young 

 birds, often a little before them, there come to 

 Heligoland a few old ones, still generally in their 

 wedding plumage, which looks a trifle worn. These 

 old birds, it is believed, are those who have not found 

 mates and who, having no family ties to detain them, 

 hurry to their winter homes. Every autumn there 

 arrive there some Golden Plover (representatives of 

 the bachelor birds just mentioned) still wearing the 

 black breast plumage that is donned in spring ; then, 

 more than a month after, come flocks of young 

 birds. The same order of departure is observed 

 among Starlings. The young birds begin to arrive in 

 Heligoland in the latter half of June, the old birds 



