34 The Coming of the Birds 



wholly leave England in winter are naturally more 

 difficult to trace than those of the summer new- 

 comers. The cry of the first cuckoo is an event of 

 interest to two or three parishes ; but the arrival 

 of the main body of nesting larks or linnets is far 

 more difficult to observe. It can often only be in- 

 ferred from a considerable addition to the numbers 

 present in their haunts, or from the sight of birds 

 which are obviously new in their surroundings. 

 Parties of common water-wagtails are often to be 

 met with in April, pressing forward along a river- 

 bank, or across lawns and pastures, with the same 

 air of unfamiliarity mingled with curiosity which 

 marks parties of human tourists in a foreign town. 

 These migratory parties of wagtails are all the more 

 noticeable, as the comparatively small number of 

 water-wagtails which do not leave their breeding 

 haunts in winter cling very closely to a particular 

 nook or corner, such as a well-sheltered bend in a 

 stream or a farmyard pond. Often a water-wag- 

 tail will attach itself for the winter to a human 

 dwelling, like the robin, though it will usually 

 desert it again in spring for the side of a pond or 

 stream not far away. Many of the smaller ground- 

 feeding birds are often attracted on migration by 

 the green plot of a garden lawn ; and occasionally 

 a flock of many dozen migrant wagtails will come 

 stringing over the hedgerows and copses, and rest 

 and feed for a few hours on the moist and well- 

 stored turf. The owners of the lawn may be not a 

 little surprised to see it apparently chosen as the 

 site for a parliament of fowls. Both in spring and 



