NATURE IN OCTOBER. 231 



asked by an enthusiastic enquirer to say how our smaller 

 birds, such as the Chiff Chaff, the Willow Wren, the two White- 

 throats, the Wood Warbler, and many others, accomplish the 

 task of travelling thousands upon thousands of miles, from clime 

 to clime, without resting. How these tiny creatures which, 

 when amongst us in this fair free land of ours only seem able 

 to flit from twig to twig along some sunlit hedgerow, or the 

 Corncrake which runs through the cornfield, never hardly seen 

 on the wing whilst here in England and more often heard than 

 seen at all. endure such long and protracted flights, crossing the 

 Mediterranean, the Bay of Biscay, and the English Channel, is 

 one of those extraordinary feats which present day Science has 

 not, so far as I understand it, altogether cleared up to everyone's 

 satisfaction. 



Among the many mysteries of bird migration is the fact that 

 over-sea journeys are generally conducted in the darkness, and 

 invariably against a head wind ! 



The happy and busy life which our Summer migrants live 

 whilst they are with us strikes me as being delightful and inter- 

 esting, and many of them seem loth to quit our shores when 

 the time arrives for them to seek more congenial climes. Most of 

 them cannot know an idle moment, for so soon as they arrive 

 here they commence the work of nidification, and when they 

 have finished the important and busy task of raising their 

 broods, they at once congregate, preparatory to winging their 

 way across the sea. I have observed migrants morning after 

 morning congregating, and had wished that it would last long, 

 but one fine September morn when the first golden-red beams 

 flashed across the dew-spattered meadows my friends prepared 

 to depart and were bidden adieu by a trilling lay from a Lark, 

 the chirping of some noisy Sparrows on the housetops, the 

 twittering of a few Martins and Swallows, or the sweet paean 

 of a Redbreast. 



As I have previously noted, most of the visitors have all 

 taken their departure by September, and it is not necessary 

 that I should enumerate the dates. When October winds blow, 

 the only Summer visitors left to us are the Swallow family 

 and a few young Cuckoos perhaps. 



One of the most interesting birds to be observed at this 



