2S>^3* NATURE NEAR LONDON 



blackbirds round London fly westwards towards 

 the milder side of the island. It seems to me that 

 when, some years since, I used to stroll round the 

 water meadows in a western county for snipes in 

 frosty weather, the hedges were full of thrushes 

 and blackbirds quite full of them. 



Now, though there were thrushes and blackbirds 

 about the brooks by London last winter, there were 

 few in the hedges generally. Had they, then, 

 flown westwards ? It is my belief that they had. 

 They had left the hard-bound ground about Lon- 

 don for the softer and moister lands farther west. 

 They had crossed the rain-line. When frost pre- 

 vents access to food in the east, thrushes and black- 

 birds move westwards, just as the fieldfares and 

 redwings do. 



That the fieldfares and redwings do so I can say 

 with confidence, because, as they move in large 

 flocks, there is no difficulty in tracing the direction 

 in which they are going. They all went west 

 when the severe weather began. On the southern 

 side of London, at least in the districts I am best 

 acquainted with, there was hardly a fieldfare or 

 redwing to be seen for weeks and even months. 

 Towards spring they came back, flying east for 

 Norway. As thrushes and blackbirds move singly 

 and not with concerted action, their motions can- 

 not be determined with such precision, but all the 

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