56 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



descend with a rush of this kind during the stillness of early 

 morning ; but, instead of being vertical, or nearly so, the course of 

 their descent is very much inclined. 



Quite different is the manner in which the small songsters, 

 such as Redstarts, Warblers, Whin Chats, and similar species, make 

 their appearance. One meets with these suddenly on fine sunny 

 mornings in countless hosts, whose numbers go on increasing 

 steadily without the arrival of any single one of them having been 

 noticed; nor is it possible to say from what direction they had 

 come. On the other hand, Chaffinches are seen to arrive in flocks 

 at great heights, appearing like fine dust. After much wheeling 

 about in the air, amid loudly-uttered cries of ' bink-bink,' they 

 descend and hasten to what few bushes and shrubs the island can 

 offer them. 



In short, almost every species descends in its own peculiar 

 manner, but almost all in the first instance become visible at very 

 great altitudes as scarcely perceptible specks. 



From the manner and mode of their departure, one is led to the 

 conclusion that birds at once attain to a very high migration flight 

 in this movement. Many of them travel as solitary wanderers at 

 great heights ; others, like the Cranes, in companies, ascend in a 

 circling course until they disappear from view. Sparrowhawks 

 and Common Kestrels I have seen making their way upwards on a 

 similar spiral path, until they became totally invisible. The balloon- 

 like ascent of the Buzzard has already been alluded to. In the 

 case of Song Thrushes, Redbreasts, Hedge Sparrows, Golden-crested 

 Wrens, and many other species, one of the birds, soon after sunset, 

 rises before the rest, whom it summons for departure with loud 

 call-notes. The remaining members of the band then congregate 

 from all directions, and, with breasts directed upwards and rapid 

 powerful strokes of the wings, fly almost perpendicularly upwards, 

 describing whole or half circles at irregular intervals. When no 

 other loiterers are attracted by the call-notes, these are silenced, 

 and, soon after, the birds disappear in the deep blue of the far-off 

 sky. (See Golden-crested Wren.) 



The birds which, in respect to the height of their migration 

 flight, come next in order to those already enumerated, consist for 

 the most part of species allied to the Snipes, such as Curlews, 

 Godwits, Plovers, and their relatives. These travel, especially on 

 clear afternoons in spring, in flocks or smaller groups, almost 

 always at very great elevations, and, for the most part, at the 

 extreme limit of our visual range. How far above this limit their 

 flight extends cannot be determined ; but there can be no doubt 

 about their exceeding it, for frequently their clear call-notes are 



