A BIRDLOVER'S YEAR 



before March is out he sets forth on the long 

 and perilous voyage. From a country of 

 tropical heat, with vegetation and climatic 

 conditions to correspond, the sandpiper turns 

 towards northern climes. He may take 

 the route which skirts along the coast, 

 passing Delagoa Bay and coming down the 

 great Nile valley. Arriving there, he may 

 continue westwards to Algeria, and on to 

 the Strait of Gibraltar, there to cross into 

 Spain, flying across the fertile plains of 

 Andalusia, over the snow-capped passes of 

 the Pyrenees, and thence through France, 

 crossing the Channel either from Ushant at 

 the extreme west, or from Boulogne or 

 Calais. The different conditions of climate 

 through which the bird must pass are great : 

 from tropical heat, with the fierce glare of 

 a southern sun, through more temperate 

 regions where still the palm and the cactus 

 grow, across the mighty ocean, until the 

 colder shores of England are reached. Or 

 the sandpiper might pass through the heart 

 of Africa, crossing the mighty Sahara Desert, 

 and from Tripoli or Algiers over the huge 

 expanse of the Mediterranean Sea, through 

 Turkey and Bosnia, and across tho passes 

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