THE BIRDS 269 



and titmice, are resident with us throughout the year, those we see 

 are not alv/ays the same individuals. As cold weather sets in, the 

 birds that have passed the summer months with us move south- 

 wards, but their places are filled by others that come flocking in 

 from colder northern lands. It is noticeable, too, that towards 

 the end of the breeding season the birds of a particular species 

 may suddenly become much more numerous, but the influx does 

 not last long, the new-comers passing onward to fresh haunts. 

 These birds are termed " partial " or " gipsy migrants." Besides 

 these resident and roving species we have our regular summer and 

 winter visitors that stay on our shores for a longer or shorter period, 

 some for many months ; others, true birds of passage, pause but 

 a short time on their way north or south. The swallow, the cuckoo, 

 the nightingale, that come in the springtime and stay and breed in 

 temperate regions during the summer, wing their way in the autumn 

 to warmer climates ; while the fieldfare, the redwing, the jack-snipe, 

 flock in from the north as cold weather sets in. All birds breed 

 in the colder regions of their migration ; then, when the young are 

 sufficiently advanced, when food becomes scarce, and the nights grow 

 cold, they automatically move farther south. The tendency of all 

 migrating birds, apparently, is to take a course due north or south : 

 thus, the swallows that have reared their young in northern Europe 

 migrate to Africa ; those which have nested in Northern Asia pass 

 on to India and Burma, or still farther south to Australia and New 

 Zealand. North American swallows migrate to South America, 

 to return in the following year to their usual summer haunts. 



The manner of the migration varies with different species. 

 Some birds gather together in enormous flocks, some journey 

 in small companies, others appear to fly in pairs or even singly, 

 though this is not very usual. The longest journeys are evidently 

 performed at night, and at certain times vast hosts of birds may 

 be heard passing overhead in the darkness ; and on dark, cloudy 

 nights many are killed by dashing themselves against the blinding 

 lights of the lighthouses along the coasts." l Two instances given 

 by Gatke show the extent of these visitations : 



" From ten o'clock on the night of October 28th, 1882, to 

 the next morning, goldcrests eddied thick as flakes in a heavy 

 snowfall round the lighthouse on the little island of Heligoland ; 



1 W. P. Pycraft. 



