CHAPTER IX. 



THE SPRING ASPECTS OF MIGRATION IN THE 

 BRITISH AREA, 



Commencement of Spring Migration in the British Islands — 

 Departure of Eastern Migrants — Departure of North-eastern 

 Migrants — Abnormal Lines of Migration from the British Area 

 — Birds Migrating Too Early — Arrival of First Spring Migrants 

 from the South — Departure of Winter Visitors to the British 

 Islands — Coasting Migration in Spring — Migration of various 

 Northern Birds— Arrival of Summer Migrants in the British 

 Islands — The Growing Intensity of Spring Migration — Months 

 of Passage of Various Species — Gradual Advance Northwards 

 of Migrants — Duration of Spring Migration — Vertical Migra- 

 tion in Spring — The Various Species performing it — Order of 

 Migration — Table indicating the Spring Migration of Birds 

 across the British Islands. 



I INTEND to devote the present chapter to a brief 

 review of the most salient features of the Spring Migra- 

 tion of Birds as they are presented in the British Archi- 

 pelago. To the student of British birds, nothing perhaps 

 is more interesting after a long dreary winter than to 

 note the first signs of a coming change of season in the 

 movements of migratory birds. As might naturally be 

 expected, the first species to display any migratory 

 tendencies in spring are the hardiest — those birds that 

 winter in our islands, yet breed in various continental 



