THIRD WEEK IN APRIL 43 
with a stick, makes them fly off at once. 
They probably imagine a gun, which they 
have learnt to dread, is being levelled at 
them. They keep up a squawk all the night, 
and if a light be brought towards the nests, 
the birds become specially uneasy and noisy. 
This bird sanctum afforded shelter to many 
wild ducks, mallards, and we saw several of 
their nests with eggs, with the usual dark- 
coloured down around them. One hen sat 
very close, and we admired her as we stood 
only ten feet away. If she had had a long bill 
she might easily, I thought, have been mis- 
taken for a woodcock on the nest. The plum- 
age as she sat seemed much like that bird’s. 
Several males were mated with tame females. 
This isa common occurrence. The business-like 
long continued notes of the chiff-chaff which 
we heard, as well as the presence of the 
swallows and house martins, before mentioned, 
showed that the yearly migration of our 
feathered visitors had commenced. Just be- 
fore leaving we came upon a tree, whose trunk 
as far as a hole half way up, about three inches 
