292 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



same principle, and is exceedingly effective amongst 

 the members of some species when baited with 

 what they like. Redbreasts and Hedge Sparrows 

 are easily caught with it in winter-time, but its 

 temptations are seldom great enough to overcome 

 the sagacity of a House Sparrow. 



Such is the rush of Nightingales southwards 

 between the last week in July and the last 

 week in August that our friend says he could 

 easily catch a hundred specimens in his hand- 

 breadth of garden alone. 



On one occasion he secured as many as seven- 

 teen Redstarts in a single morning, which is an 

 astonishing performance when it is taken into 

 consideration that it occurred in the early spring. 



It is an interesting fact that there is nearly 

 always a morning, during the first or second week 

 in May, when every garden in and around Brighton 

 swarms with newly-arrived migrants, such as White- 

 throats, Nightingales, Lesser Whitethroats, Redstarts, 

 and Willow Wrens. No sooner, however, have the 

 little travellers rested themselves than they are 

 off again, and next morning there is not one of 

 them to be seen. 



As an instance of the dangers encountered by 

 some of our summer visitors in journeying back to 

 their old haunts, Booth mentions that Whitethroats 

 in crossing the Channel when flying low to avoid 

 the full force of a fresh north-westerly wind are 

 often struck down by the spray from a wave 

 breaking just ahead of them, and drowned. 



It is strange to note how much a bird may 

 modify its habits in a journey of only two or 

 three hundred miles. Having been familiar with 

 the Ring Ouzel and its shy habits nearly all my 

 life in the mountain regions of the North, I was 



