XIV INTRODUCTION. 



calling clamorously in their flight ; whilst, glancing through 

 the uncertain haze, immense flocks of shore birds are mo- 

 mentarily seen ere they as suddenly disappear. Truly Spenser 

 said rightly, "It is yet a most beautifull and sweete countrey 

 as any under heaven." 



In summer thousands of birds, attracted by various causes, 

 leave the quarters they had occupied during winter, and en- 

 liven each hedgerow with their melody. The gannet ap- 

 pears upon the sea, and the tern occupies in hundreds each 

 islet, to commence the cares they had arrived for ; whilst far 

 away on remote rocks by the ocean, where the surge rolls over 

 during winter, the summit is carpeted by hundreds of cu- 

 rious shapeless forms, screaming incessantly for food. All 

 is enjoyment ! even the stormy petrel has left her boundless 

 dominion to take a short rest, and again lead out her pro- 

 geny to forage amidst the tumult of a tempest they had evoked 

 by their unhallowed presence. 



Winter arrives, and with it many changes. We hear no 

 more the " craking" of the land-rail, or see with delight the 

 swallow skimming over the river-side. The imperative ri- 

 gours of an Arctic season have replaced those varied forms 

 with others which harmonize with her latitudes, and whose 

 strange cries sufficiently indicate the remoteness of the lands 

 they had sojourned in. At once each available locality is te- 

 nanted by its army of occupation ; the inland lake, the shel- 

 tered estuary, and the deep water outside the shore-line, has 

 its garrison. In the day the eye is attracted by strange co- 

 lumns and lines of wild- fowl, rapidly urging their way as if 

 eager to escape from those regions which had refused them 

 sustenance ; whilst at night the ear is charmed by the loud 

 rushing sounds of their pinions over head, and by their start- 

 ling call-notes, clearly and distinctly borne upon the frosty air p 



When we arrive to examine more minutely those forms, 

 we are struck with the admirable adaptation which Nature has 



