DISTANCES TRAVELLED BY BIRDS 67 



the Equator, and that those which pass through 

 England and along our shores in May and even 

 June are on their way from Southern Africa to the 

 northernmost limits of their range. Mr Sclater 

 points out one very interesting fact ; when the 

 swallow reaches South Africa it is in ragged worn 

 plumage, before it begins its northward journey it 

 passes through its one annual moult. 



Waders and shore birds which reach South Africa 

 in autumn the spring of the Cape are moulting 

 into winter dress ; before they leave they have often 

 assumed or partially assumed the breeding dress. 

 When they arrive the native South African birds 

 are breeding, but though Mr Sclater thinks that some 

 nest a second time in the south, no satisfactory 

 evidence has ever been brought forward to support 

 the suggestion. These long-distance travellers not 

 only move from a zone of moderate temperature to 

 a warmer one, but many of them pass through 

 the hotter zone to a country having a similar 

 temperature to the one in which they bred, thus 

 enjoying summer but not torrid heat all the year 

 round. 



There are birds in which the northern and southern 

 forms are distinct. The wheatear, Saxicola oenanthe 

 oenanthe, reaches us early, sometimes during the 

 second week in March, and speedily settles down to 

 nest. Towards the middle or end of April a brighter 



