WINTER BIRDS OF PASSAGE 179 



the lightships and lighthouses, as is often the case. Gold- 

 crests arrive in autumn in great numbers from the pine- 

 forests of Scandinavia ; the passage of this minute and 

 short-winged bird over the stormy breadth of the North 

 Sea at the roughest period of the year is one of the most 

 striking features of migration. Soon they spread themselves 

 over the country, haunting fir- woods and the shelter of ever- 

 greens in gardens ; they are far more abundant in many 

 English gardens in winter than in summer, and can constantly 

 be heard passing through the dark boughs of the spruce 

 coverts with their needle-like cry. 



The visits of most of the geese and ducks which are 

 commonly classed as ' wild-fowl,' depend to a very great 

 degree on the weather in this and other lands, and are con- 

 sequently exceedingly irregular. Some species of geese are 

 regular in their appearance in their old haunts each autumn, 

 though variable in numbers ; but the great majority of these 

 water-fowl come to us when the frost of a severe winter has 

 gripped their oozy feeding-grounds in the Baltic basin and 

 along the eastern shores of the North Sea, and their coming 

 depends on the season. Their numbers have greatly 

 decreased, since reclamation of marshes and harbours has 

 diminished their feeding-grounds, and their chief haunts are 

 more closely watched by gunners. Next to the well-known 

 mallard often called the wild duck to the exclusion of all the 

 other species in this fine group the commonest species of 

 duck which visit us in winter are wigeon and teal. The 

 wigeon keeps chiefly to the estuaries, though it sometimes 

 visits inland lakes ; but the brilliant little teal distributes 

 itself well about the country, settling down on small wood- 

 land ponds as well as larger sheets of water. Pochard are 

 scarcer than teal and wigeon, but are seen fairly often on 

 inland sheets of water in hard winters. Though they belong, 



