IN DEVONSHIRE LANES. 221 



on into the twilight ; and the swampy corners of 

 the lanes and the tangled thickets near the ponds 

 are resonant with the song of the Sedge Warbler. 

 All night long, in one almost unbroken strain, these 

 industrious little singers warble from the osiers and 

 the reeds, especially during the warm still nights of 

 May. Indeed May is a month of song, the most 

 musical, perhaps, of all the twelve, like the glorious 

 finale of some mighty orchestra ; and during June 

 and the first few weeks of July the melody of the 

 lanes will pass almost imperceptibly away. 



Another period of the year, when many of our 

 Devonshire lanes are specially attractive to the 

 ornithologist, is in April. Migration is then in 

 progress, and the careful observer may obtain en- 

 trancing glimpses of the wonderful phenomenon. 

 Certainly the lanes nearest to the sea are by far 

 the most interesting so far as regards the arrival 

 of migratory birds. The dense cover they afford 

 forms the attraction, and after a migration night 

 they frequently swarm with a variety of species. I 

 have remarked this specially to be the case after a 

 rough and stormy night, as if the weary birds were 

 glad to rest for a time in the nearest cover so soon 

 as they have safely 'reached the land. The previous 

 evening may show a great scarcity of birds in the 



