284 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



so far as concerns migration, are those to which our 

 second chapter is devoted, viz., the Plovers and the 

 Sandpipers. Perhaps in this group more than in 

 any other, the habit of migration is most strongly 

 displayed. The journeys some of these birds 

 undertake in spring and autumn can only be 

 described as marvellous. The Sanderling breeds in 

 the North Polar Basin, and in winter is found in 

 the Malay Archipelago, in the Cape Colony, and 

 in Patagonia ; the Knot has a similar distribution 

 in summer, but in winter visits such enormously 

 remote localities as Australia, New Zealand, the 

 Cape Colony, and Brazil ! Well may these little 

 birds excite exceptional feelings of interest in the 

 observer who watches them, each recurring season, 

 running blithely over the sands and the mud-flats, 

 when he remembers the distances they travel. 



But migration on the coast is by no means con- 

 fined to the birds that habitually reside upon it. 

 All the migratory species that dwell in inland 

 districts must pass the coast on their annual 

 journeys in spring and autumn. At these seasons, 

 in suitable districts (of which we have already 

 indicated the most favourable for observation), birds 

 may be watched day after day, and week after 

 week, entering our area to render summer glad 

 with their cheerful presence, passing along our 

 shores to yet more distant destinations, or depart- 

 ing in autumn for warmer lands and sunnier skies. 

 Many of these birds, of course, enter our islands 



