i 4 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



Puffins less hosts Guillemots, Puffins, Razorbills, Kitti- 



return to St. 



Knda, ist W akes, Gannets, and Fulmars, all moved by a 

 common impulse to meet at the old familiar 

 trysting-places. The Divers leave the sea and 

 retire to inland lochs, as also do great numbers of 

 Oystercatchers and Ringed Plovers. 



Right through the spring the migration of 

 birds is going on apace. The army of Geese and 

 Ducks and the hosts of Arctic Waders which were 

 driven south to our coasts last autumn hurry 

 home again to lands bathed in bright sunshine and 

 gay with brilliant flowers, where summer comes 

 quickly and without almost any warning sign, 

 transforming the Arctic regions from howling 

 wastes into verdant plains and valleys which now 



Redwings become a vast aviary of birds. We now miss 



all departed, 



3 rd April, the flocks of Redwings on the pastures, and the 

 chattering Fieldfares are heard no more amongst 

 the hawthorns ; they have sped north to the birch 

 and fir forests on the slopes of the Swedish fells. 

 The pretty Snow Buntings have set out on their 

 Arctic journey, some of them wandering probably 

 even to the Pole. But if we lose many of our 

 little feathered friends, which have been our daily 

 companions since the autumn, there are others 

 constantly arriving to take their place. From 

 the end of March to the middle of May an almost 

 incessant stream of birds is pouring into this 

 sth country from sultry Africa, too hot and parched 

 for them to live in now. By the middle of April 



arrives, l8 th we we lcome back the Swallows and the Martins, 



