3OO BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



that are to be our winter guests. The Whitethroat 

 now thinks about Africa ; so, too, does the Spotted 

 Flycatcher and the Cuckoo. Upon the shore, the 

 Sanderling and the Ringed Plovers appear in com- 

 pany with their young ; while many Common and 

 Black-headed Gulls return to the seas they fre- 

 quent during the winter. Now also begin to 

 repass such high northern birds as Knots, Turn- 

 stones, Little Stints, Greenshanks, Redshanks, and 

 Whimbrels. The mudflats once more exhibit 

 signs of avine life, from which they have long been 

 free. Our smaller birds are mostly moulting, yet 

 now and then we hear a song from some young 

 Thrush. Swallows and Martins are now in large 

 companies ; the young broods are strong upon the 

 wing, though still fed chiefly by their parents. 

 The Sedge Warblers are so silent and skulking 

 that we might almost think that they had already 

 gone. September brings many important changes 

 amongst our feathered favourites. This month 

 marks the departure of the great majority ; and 

 it also brings us various Ducks and Geese from 

 northern lands, and additions to the numbers of 

 species already named in the previous month. 

 Now comes the first of the Jack Snipes, and 



