AMONG THE BIRDS IN AUTUMN. 181 



Diver, a Great Crested Grebe, or a Little Gull, all 

 on their way south, lose their way in the Wash ; 

 and sometimes a Gray Shrike appears, stays a day 

 or so, and then departs. Vast flocks of feathered 

 pilgrims, all bent on getting to their winter quarters, 

 pass this interesting district during the autumn. 

 For days and days together the air will be full of 

 Skylarks; then flock after flock of Golden Plovers 

 cross over, and string after string of Geese and 

 Ducks. Short-eared Owls fly over in the night 

 from the Continent; and Redwings and Fieldfares J^^ 

 hurry south with every favourable wind, the former 0< 

 birds every now and then uttering their liquid cry, 

 and the latter sak sak-mg to each other as they go. 

 From this paradise of wading birds, it is but 

 a short distance to the district of the Broads ; and 

 here we meet with many birds in autumn that 

 prefer an inland to a littoral haunt. Some of the 

 most charming pictures of bird life may be here 

 witnessed by the observer who is careful not to 

 alarm his feathered favourites. In the evening 

 the big white banks of autumnal fog hang low 

 over the cold, gray waters, and the sighing of the 

 wind through the dead, bending reeds, is fitting 

 music to such a wild, even solemn scene. The 

 shy Wild Ducks are swimming about in the half 

 light, all unconscious of danger ; here a brace of 

 Teal float side by side, there a Pochard paddles 

 lazily to and fro ; whilst a big, gray Heron, in 

 moody contemplation of all things piscatorial, 

 stands like a statue on an old wrecked fen-boat, 



