AMONG THE BIRDS IN AUTUMN. 177 



in summer ; he has sped away to the oases in 

 Algeria. No longer do we hear the trembling 

 notes of the Wood Wren in the tree-tops; the 

 memories of Northern Africa are once more Septei 

 revived in the brain of this little species, and its 

 impulse to return is stronger than the desire to 

 tarry here. The Chiffchaff has sped southwards, SlS^fh 

 although he is the latest of all the Willow Wrens Octob ' r - 

 to leave us, as he is the first to come in spring. 

 His monotonous cry is almost hushed, and he 

 takes his departure in silence. The Nightingale 

 has left his haunts in the spinneys and the wood- 

 lands by the latter end of September, and the 

 Redstart and the Turtle Dove set off a week 

 before. The fields are losing fast their summer 

 visitors. The Tree Pipits no longer skulk close ai5 e wh- 

 among the herbage ; their moult is completed, and, ajjth leave> 

 clothed in their new dress, they are well fitted for the 

 long journey south. The Whinchats, now for the 

 most part solitary, may sometimes be seen among 

 the turnips, or even in the hedgerows. Both these 

 birds are remarkably silent now. In the shrub- 

 beries and plantations changes are taking place 

 among the birds. The Chaffinches, after leaving ^^hes 

 these places all the summer, now begin to flock to | ep tember 

 them at nightfall to roost. Another bird that regu- 

 larly makes its appearance in these situations during 

 the autumn is the Redwing, arriving in flocks, and J^ in Sh 

 roosting year after year in one particular place. The Octob * r ' ' 

 Brambling is another of our winter visitors from f^^f 

 Scandinavian forests, but one that is very irregular, November - 



