The Flighting of the Widgeon 



uttering shrill, penetrating cries, and flocks of dunlin wheeled 

 and turned as one bird, showing, as they always do, the most 

 remarkable skill in performing complicated evolutions. But 

 the most interesting bird was the bar-tailed godwit, a winter 

 visitor to our shores, and having an extremely wide range 

 during the winter months. It is numerous along our north- 

 eastern coasts and is found on migration in France, Spain, 

 and Switzerland. For some months the godwits remain on 

 Holy Island, but with the coming of full spring the migratory 

 impulse calls irresistibly, and they set out on that flight of 

 thousands of miles to the Siberian tundras, where, even 

 during the hottest July day, the ground is frozen fast a foot 

 beneath the surface. It was now full daylight, and with an 

 approaching snowfall from the Fames the wind freshened 

 and companies of wild geese flew in strongly from the sea. At 

 times their flight formation was V-shaped, but this form- 

 ation was irregular, and often the birds spread out into a 

 long, thin line as they rapidly winged their way to the land- 

 ward end of the bay to feed on the floating marine grass. 

 Oyster-catchers, uttering their clear distinctive whistle, moved 

 backwards and forwards, and a solitary great northern diver 

 was actively engaged in fishing in the channel. These divers 

 remain under water for even longer periods than the cor- 

 morant, and it is quite remarkable what a distance they will 

 swim submerged when alarmed. 



From Lmdisfarne Castle it is possible to sweep the whole 

 of the bay with the glass, and just at the edge of the breaking 

 surf could be made out a vast number of widgeon the hosts 

 we had seen passing over at dawn riding buoyantly on the 

 waves and being at times half-submerged by a heavy breaker. 

 Portions of this great assembly flew restlessly backwards and 

 forwards, but no new-comers appeared on the scene. In the 

 comparative security of the open coast these companies of 

 widgeon pass the day, waiting idly till the fall of another 

 winter's night, when they will set out on their return flight 

 to the west where their feeding grounds lie. 



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