10 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



Take the Curlew as an example. Probably nine people 

 out of ten shore-shooters and others accustomed to seeing 

 them will tell you that the Curlews are on the moors all 

 the spring, and on the coast all the winter. This is perfectly 

 correct ; but the inference deduced therefrom, that Curlews 

 are non-migratory birds, is wholly wrong. For if the 

 observations be carried a very little further, it will be found 

 that long after the nesting Curlews have taken up their 

 summer quarters on the moors, there still remains on the 

 coast the full winter stock of Curlews in undiminished 

 numbers. There is, in fact, at that period say March 

 and April a double stock of Curlews in this country.* 

 There are, on the hills, the newly-arrived migrants from 

 (say) the Mediterranean ; and on the coast, our own winter 

 Curlews still linger, waiting till their instinct tells them that the 

 northern lands are clear of snow, and ready for their reception. 



The case of the Golden Plover is analogous. Our winter 

 Plovers can still be seen frequenting their ordinary haunts 

 in large flights, long after the breeding pairs have settled 

 down in their summer residences. Indeed, as the Golden 

 Plovers breed rather earlier than the Curlews, it is quite a 

 common occurrence to find the home-breeding birds (which 

 have wintered in the south of Europe) sitting hard, or even 

 hatching, at the end of April, and at the same time and place 

 to observe flights of northward-bound Plovers preparing to 

 depart, and which a few weeks later will be nesting perhaps 

 in Siberia. These latter may be distinguished (apart from 

 the fact of their being still in flocks) by the much more 

 perfect development of the black breast of summer a 

 feature I intend to refer to later. 



Similarly, though the extent of their range may differ, 

 the Skylark, Titlark, Black-headed Gull, Redshank, and other 

 birds included in the above list are to be found permanently 

 throughout the year at one point or another of the country ; 



* I had the Curlews carefully watched on the coast last year (1887). 

 They remained on the sands all through the months of March and 

 April, the last being observed on April 30th. But on the moors 

 they had appeared as early as March 4th, and by the end of April 

 some had commenced to lay. 



