WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



rings are made, marked with a name and 

 number, which are put carefully round the 

 legs of nestlings. They do not in any way 

 interfere with the bird, but if at any time the 

 wearer is killed or captured the ring identifies it. 

 Blackbirds and thrushes marked in this way 

 have been recovered hundreds of miles from 

 their home, they have also been seen the follow- 

 ing spring back in the old spot. This is per- 

 haps one of the most wonderful things in 

 Nature, that a small bird with no previous 

 experience can travel hundreds of miles over 

 land and sea, stay the winter in a strange land, 

 and come back in the spring to not only the 

 country in which it was born, but to the very 

 hedgerow and bush ! And it cannot be that 

 the old ones guide them, for in many cases it 

 has been proved that the old birds leave for 

 the south earlier than the young ones ; this is 

 especially the case with the cuckoo, the adults 

 leaving quite a month ahead of the birds of 

 the year. 



Those blackbirds and thrushes that choose 

 to stay the winter here in company with their 

 cousins, the redwings and fieldfares, that have 

 come over from Scandinavia, often have a 

 hard time, for during bad weather they are 

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