194 The Secret Flight 



brown above and silky white beneath, they skim in 

 great flocks like starlings at roosting time, flashing 

 in the light as they veer from side to side, and 

 flicking the air with the sharp-cut wings of their 

 tribe. These sharp wings heighten the impression 

 of speed and add to the grace of their flocks. Once 

 settled, they are as inconspicuous as the redshanks ; 

 and when they suddenly rise at some alarm, or at 

 what they pretend to be an alarm for mere restless 

 desire of movement, the leaping of their white 

 breasts into the air is as if the sunlight on the wet 

 banks had come alive. They have the same habit 

 of twisting simultaneously in flight which is con- 

 spicuous in flocks of starlings and other gregarious 

 birds, but is emphasized in the dunlins by the speed 

 at which they fly. Literally in a flash the flock has 

 changed from grey to shining white, and is cutting 

 the air at a different angle and on a different plane. 

 The thistledown dancing on the August wind is like 

 a drifting cargo-boat beside the dunlins' agility 

 and speed. 



In inland places the progress of this August migra- 

 tion of the marsh birds is divined obscurely and at 

 night. An hour or two's flight, at most, will carry 

 the curlews and dunlins from their moors to the 

 point at which they touch salt water ; and it is a 

 rare accident to see a straggler halting by day in 

 districts where they neither breed nor winter. But 

 liquid cries of passing flocks are heard overhead 

 after dark ; and these voices, passing from one soli- 

 tude to another, are noticed with especial frequency 

 over great towns. The birds seem to be excited by 



