AMONG THE BIRDS IN SPRING. 13 



best able to supply them with food and shelter, 

 but in spring they spread themselves over the 

 entire country. Delicate little Wagtails run Pied Wag . 

 daintily over the clods of earth and along the ing%r<f at 

 furrows in the wake of the plough, eagerly catch- 

 ing the early insects or feeding on the larvae 

 which the share is exposing ; the Skylarks and 

 Yellow Buntings are back again on the grass 

 fields ; the Meadow Pipits leave the lowlands and 

 seek the breezy moors where they delight to rear 

 their young. Lapwings, Golden Plovers, and Dun- 

 lins desert the coasts and mud-flats and retire to 

 inland mountain districts ; the Ring-doves begin Ring-doves 

 to engage in courtship, and shortly afterwards March! 

 commence building ; the homely Robins and 

 noisy Blackbirds leave the vicinity of houses 

 where they have lived through the winter and go 

 back to their old haunts in the woods and hedge- 

 rows ; the flocks of Linnets and Twites and Red- Linnets dis- 



i i i i ii band, 24th 



poles disband and seek their summer quarters on March - 

 moors and commons and in the fir plantations on 

 the hillsides. The same changes may be observed 

 amongst waterfowl. Ducks and Coots and Moor- 

 hens return to the quiet ponds ; the various species 

 of Gulls desert localities where they lived in 

 thousands all the winter and congregate at their 

 usual breeding- places ; whilst the great bird 

 nurseries round the rocky coasts, which have been 

 practically deserted hitherto, are once more full of 

 their feathered tenants. From all parts of the 

 surrounding seas, these sea-birds arrive in count- 



