A BIRDLOVER'S YEAR 



for this fact. Most of our warblers and 

 song-birds are migrants, as are also the 

 redstart and wagtail. 



Every spring brings us thousands of birds 

 from Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean, 

 coming in mighty streams along their chosen 

 routes ; the main body perhaps crossing the 

 Strait of Gibraltar, going along the east 

 coast of Spain, up the valley of the Ebro, 

 over the Pyrenees, and by the Bay of Biscay, 

 till they reach Cape Finisterre, and thence 

 flying across the Channel. France also con- 

 tains three main lines of communication, 

 the southerly stream coming up the Rhone 

 valley to Lyons, and then crossing to the 

 Loire valley at Orleans, and passing thence 

 to our shores via Cape La Hogue and the 

 Start Point. Another stream comes up the 

 Italian coast from Turkey and Greece, and 

 through the Swiss passes into Central France ; 

 whilst others take the most northerly route 

 through the Danube valley, passing through 

 Zurich on to Rheims, and reaching the 

 Channel near Boulogne and Calais. Some 

 birds fly straight across the Mediterranean 

 at its widest part that is, from Algeria to 

 Marseilles and there hundreds of thousands 

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