240 Summer Studies of Birds and Books CHAP. 



in the sunlight, tiny whitebait suffering the same 

 fate as their enemies, with here and there a plaice, 

 a sole, a prickly John Dory, a whiting, or a heavy, 

 leathery-mouthed " sea-carp." 



Of the other birds of Bindon I have hardly space 

 to tell ; of the cheerful Titlarks which abound on 

 the summit, and sometimes descend to the shore to 

 join their cousins the Eock-pipits, and to enjoy a 

 change of diet; of the House -martins, which are 

 here Eock-martins, building their nests under the 

 ledges of Bindon's eastern cliffs ; of the Stock-doves, 

 whose splendid deep -blue plumage one can often 

 admire here from above a thing impossible in the 

 flat country. I must pass by the Stonechats that 

 abound on the hedges below, and the Eing- ousels 

 that every autumn rest here awhile on migration, 

 betraying themselves by their loud metallic alarm- 

 note, and, if they happen to face you, as indeed they 

 rarely do, by the conspicuous white crescent on their 

 breasts. Even my favourites, the Wagtails, must 

 be no more than mentioned ; all the three common 

 species have shown themselves to me on Bindon's 

 slopes, or by the spring at his foot, during the last 

 few days, all probably travelling quietly eastward. 



But of the great stream of migration that can be 

 watched in mid-September from the top of Bindon I 

 must needs say just a word. If the wind be blowing 

 gently from east or north, so that the travellers do 



