WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



where they were reared. We often speak of 

 the blackbirds and thrushes as birds that stop 

 with us all winter, as non-migratory species, 

 but as a matter of fact they travel far and wide. 

 Truly we do have some with us during the 

 hardest weather, but these are not the identical 

 birds which nested with us and reared their 

 young ones in the garden. Those are now 

 far away. The blackbirds and thrushes which 

 come to feed in front of the windows on 

 crumbs and bits thrown out for them are 

 travellers from the north who have come down 

 from those colder regions to our milder country. 

 In the autumn a movement begins in the bird 

 world which very few kinds escape. It is like 

 the ebb and flow of the tide on the shore. In 

 the spring the tide flows northwards, birds of 

 all sorts and descriptions journey back from 

 the warmer countries to the places where they 

 were reared. Some get as far north as the 

 Arctic Circle, and all travel many hundreds of 

 miles over land and sea to get back to their 

 homes. With the autumn comes the impulse 

 to wander again; cold winds, the scarcity of 

 insects, the inherited instinct, all set them 

 moving. The tide begins to ebb, swallows and 

 martins vanish, the little grey willow wrens 

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