MIGRATION IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 297 



Greenshank, the Redshank, the Knot, the Common 

 Sandpiper, the Whimbrel, and the Bar-tailed God- 

 wit. May also brings us the graceful Terns, 

 which pass along more or less close to the shore, 

 on their way to the breeding places. Almost all 

 of our resident species are breeding during this 

 month, while the earliest of the summer migrants 

 begin doing so towards the close. May is but 

 a continuation of April, so far as concerns the 

 majority of our birds. It is also marked by the 

 arrival of the last batch of our summer migrants, 

 and by the final rush across the county of various 

 polar breeding birds. It is also the month of the 

 Cuckoo, that bird's full merry notes sounding far 

 and near at intervals from all the country-side 

 whilst daylight lasts. As April saw the Missel 

 Thrush become mute, the present month marks a 

 perceptible waning in the songs of our earliest 

 breeders ; but this waning melody is scarce 

 remarked amidst the crash of song from the 

 tuneful throats of the migrant Warbler hosts ; 

 whilst the Swifts arc particularly noisy, as they 

 sweep in parties about their breeding places 

 towards evening, or chase each other round the 

 thatched cottages, under the eaves of which they 



