OCTOBER. 159 



That all of these birds were foreigners was proved, 

 not only by the direction of the wind, but by the 

 simultaneous arrival with them of many bramblings 

 and hooded crows. The last are well known as 

 " Denshmen," or " Danish crows," on the Norfolk 

 coast ; and the brambling, a handsome chaffinch-like 

 bird, distinguished by its ruddy shoulders and the 

 white band above its tail in flight, comes from 

 Norway, only one instance of its breeding in Britain 

 having been authenticated. 



THE LINGERING MARTINS. 



Nor were these the most distinguished visitors 

 that the week of north winds brought, for on Septem- 

 ber 30 a peregrine falcon was wheeling wide and free 

 over the coast fields, where lark, partridge, and 

 plover crouched still as death. On October I, with 

 an east wind, all the swallow-birds departed, with the 

 exception of a few house-martins, which still had 

 young in their nests. Thus with the advent of flock 

 upon flock of foreign birds, we awaited only the 

 passage of these few lingerers to sever our last link 

 with the summer that was past. For the house- 

 martins that remained it was an anxious time. They 

 arrived much later than the swallows in spring, and 

 an unkind caprice of the weather, such as ushers in 

 October sometimes, might cause them to suffer as 

 the poor swallows suffered in spring. 



