STRANGERS OF THE SPRING. 39 



season, either from their winter home in Southern 

 Europe or Africa. Some cross the English 

 Channel as a matter of course, but are rarely 

 allowed to live here in peace, being hunted to 

 death by "collectors"; others overshoot the 

 mark, and doubtless cross to us with the usual 

 stream of spring migrants. The great migration 

 of birds in spring is from south to north. So far 

 as we can ascertain, there is little or no migration 

 from the east at this season, and our feathered 

 strangers of the spring invariably come from the 

 south. The gravest of doubt attaches to the bona 

 fides of any eastern bird said to have been shot 

 in spring, as to any southern bird obtained in 

 autumn. Students of British birds should always 

 bear this golden rule in mind. 



When we come to treat of strangers of the 

 autumn, we will discuss more fully the movements 

 of these wanderers and the routes they travel ; 

 for the present we will confine our attention to a 

 brief notice of the various interesting species that 

 make their appearance here in spring. The 

 Hobby and the Honey Buzzard may be dismissed 

 with little notice, inasmuch that both of these 

 birds are regular if rare migrants here in spring, 

 and breed very sparingly in one or two favoured 

 localities. Precisely the same remarks apply to 

 the Hen Harrier and Montagu's Harrier. Both 

 these birds were once much more common and 

 widely dispersed than they are at the present 

 time ; nevertheless, a few scattered pairs come 



