126 MY NATURE NOTEBOOK. 



a great fluttering at such times, while on the rare 

 occasions when a hawk enters a bush he seems to 

 fling himself into it, with the same action that he 

 would use in trying to grab an evasive hedge-bird. 

 The young cuckoo similarly seems to tumble in or 

 out of a hedge, and this action appears momentarily 

 to prompt small birds to mob him, though they soon 

 withdraw, as though close inspection of his plumage 

 satisfied them of their error. 



BIRDS ALREADY ON THE MOVE. 



While the young cuckoos are still with us, there 

 are abundant signs that the birds are already on the 

 move spreading abroad, as it were, to make room 

 for the surplus population after the breeding season. 

 As yet no definite southward movement has begun ; 

 but some early rooks, flying south, have reached the 

 north Norfolk coast ; hawks have reappeared in places 

 to which they had been strangers since early spring ; 

 and the voice of the green woodpecker has been heard 

 again in fields where he is only known as a traveller 

 in spring and autumn. The chittering note of the 

 robin, which seems as suggestive of foggy November 

 as its clear carol is of Christmas, may already be 

 heard in the garden as dusk draws on. The un- 

 seasonable chill of the evenings lends emphasis to 

 these premature warnings of coming change ; but 

 our gardens were never more full of thronging sum- 

 mer life than now, with families of young birds, 

 personally conducted by their parents, learning the 

 art of life in flower-bed, fruit-garden, and orchard. 



