1 86 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



Finches are flying side by side with Gulls and 

 Waders. Warblers and Herons scatter scientific 

 classification to the winds, and fraternise with 

 Swans, and Goatsuckers, and Larks. Falcons 

 and Owls appear to lose all propensity for 

 preying on their helpless fellow voyagers, and fly 

 harmlessly to and fro amongst their companions 

 in misfortune. The light is literally vignetted in 

 drifting masses of birds, which appear an instant 

 as they cross the brilliant rays, and then suddenly 

 vanish in the gloom ; but as soon as the weather 

 clears and the clouds break, and the moon shines 

 forth once more, the birds appear to get on their 

 right track again, and the feathered hosts are gone 

 as suddenly as they came. I always think that 

 these migratory movements lend bird life its 

 greatest charm in autumn. Whenever and 

 wherever w r e wander out into the woods or by 

 the shore, signs of the great feathered exodus 

 now in progress are to be seen on every side. 

 In the highest air the V-shaped lines taken by 

 the migrating Geese, or in the lower atmosphere 

 the fluttering throng of Martins and Swallows, 

 proclaim the movements of some of our feathered 

 friends. Almost every wood, and field, and lane, 

 and highway are tenanted by birds bent on their 

 annual pilgrimage ; and bird after bird departs 

 as the autumn draws to its close, their places 

 being taken by others from more northern lands. 

 The habits of the Starling right through the 

 autumn, very closely resemble those of the Rook 



