Farewell Ceremonies. 37 



have not seen these as they collect on the sunny 

 side of the house-roof, or bead the parapet of the 

 Radcliffe building, before they make up their 

 minds to the journey. But few have seen the 

 Fieldfares and Redwings under the same condi- 

 tions, and I find no account of their migration, or 

 at least of what actually happens when they go, 

 in any book within my reach as I write. But on 

 March 19, 1884, I was lucky enough to see some- 

 thing of their farewell ceremonies. I was walking 

 in some water-meadows adjoining a wood, on the 

 outskirts of which were a number of tall elms and 

 poplars, when I heard an extraordinary noise, 

 loud, harsh, and continuous, and of great volume, 

 proceeding from the direction of these trees, which 

 were at the time nearly half-a-mile distant. I 

 had been hearing the noise for a minute or two 

 without attending to it, and was gradually de- 

 veloping a consciousness that some strange new 

 agricultural instrument, or several of them, were 

 at work somewhere near, when some Fieldfares 

 flew past me to alight on the meadow not far off. 

 Then putting up my glass, I saw that the trees 

 were literally black with birds ; and as long as 



