44 BIRD HAUNTS AND NATURE MEMORIES 



was alive with goldcrests, on another robins, dunnocks, 

 wrens, and a few belated warblers filled the bushes. 

 Redstarts, stonechats, blue tits, even a couple of pied 

 woodpeckers, were amongst the night arrivals; for two 

 days a great grey shrike rested on the wires, darting down 

 occasionally to reduce the insect population of the ridge, 

 and a water - rail slunk along a drain as we passed. 

 Predatory birds followed the migrating hosts and took 

 toll. Along the ridge were many heaps of feathers where 

 the merlin had dined; a peregrine was travelling with the 

 redwings, and a rough-legged buzzard quartered the fields, 

 passing within a few yards of where I lay to watch it. 



Daily the swallows and martins coasted south, following 

 the ridge; they never passed in large numbers, but the 

 stream, though thin, was continuous. Occasionally a 

 big party of starlings passed, flying with businesslike 

 determination, not hawking from side to side and occa- 

 sionally returning over the same ground for a few yards 

 like the hirundines; the starling, whether bound for feed- 

 ing-ground, for roost, or winter quarters, always means 

 to get there with as little delay as possible. But the 

 most noticeable migrants were the gulls, chiefly of two 

 species, greater and lesser black-backs. There were 

 black- headed gulls in theHumber, and some with common 

 gulls following the plough ; there were a few herring-gulls 

 about, but the numbers of these species which were passing 

 was trifling compared with the darker mantled brethren. 

 Occasionally some of the larger gulls went out seaward 

 to seek a shoal of fish, but as a rule all day and every 

 day the stream steadily flowed south. How many 

 thousands passed each day ? Some travelled in irregular 

 order, some in well-formed chevrons, or in long lines, 

 those to the rear benefiting by the air disturbance of the 

 advance wings. At times only a dozen might be in sight 

 at one moment; then party followed party in quick 



