MIGRATION IX A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 299 



may be found provided for the second or even the 

 third broods. By the middle of the month the 

 Thrushes are mostly silent; so, too, are the Robins, 

 Wrens, and Hedge Sparrows; the Blackcap and the 

 Willow Wren sing less and less frequently; the 

 Cuckoo and the Chaffinch entirely lose their voice. 

 The moulting season is now at hand, and most of 

 our small birds skulk whilst the change of plumage 

 is undergone. Many birds now begin to form into 

 compact flocks a sure sign of the waning. year. 

 Vast flocks of Starlings and Finches congregate 

 about the fields; parties of summer migrants may 

 be seen, the broods and their parents living thus 

 together until the time of departure arrives. Now 

 also may be seen the first signs of that returning 

 migration of shore birds, inaugurated by the 

 Common Sandpiper. Towards the close of the 

 month the Swifts old and young begin to 

 assemble, and often soar to vast heights in the 

 hot summer evenings, and with the advent of 

 August they, the first of all the migrant band, 

 begin to prepare for early departure. We finally 

 miss them here about the loth. August marks 

 the departure of some of our more familiar 

 summer birds, as it also does the arrival of others 



