of March 



The this inscrutable rhythmic law. Both the 



Heralds^ skylark and the blackbird, for example, are 

 migratory birds, and yet larks and merles by 

 the thousand remain in our northlands through 

 the winter, and even come to us at that season. 

 The skylark in particular puzzles the orni- 

 thologist. While certain birds appear and 

 disappear with an astonishing regularity, as 

 though they heard the pealing of aerial chimes 

 afar off and knew the bells of home . . . the 

 swallow, for example ; or, again, the tiny 

 gold-crested wren, in some parts called 'the 

 woodcock- pilot ' because in two or at most 

 three days after its appearance the first wood- 

 cocks are invariably seen . . . there are others, 

 like the song-thrush, which will pass away in 

 the great migratory clouds that like with- 

 drawing veils every autumn carry the winged 

 clans oversea ; which will pass so absolutely 

 that for a hundred miles not one of its kind 

 will be observed, not even a straggler : and 

 yet, in some other direction, others will be 

 seen weeks later and perhaps even through 

 the winter. We are all familiar with the 

 homestay of the Redbreast, and many people 

 believe that it is not a migrant because of 

 its frequency about our garden- ways even in 

 the hardest winter : and yet, in incalculable 

 myriads, the redbreast migrates as far south 



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