288 Among the Birds in Northern Shires. 



the last of our summer migrants the Swift, the 

 Wood Wren, the Flycatcher, the Nightjar, and the 

 Turtle Dove especially. Merlins, Plovers, Twites, 

 and Ring-ouzels are nesting on the moors ; Sparrow- 

 hawks and Kestrels in the woods; where also 

 Pheasant, Jay, and Magpie are deep in family cares. 

 Away on the distant coast we also know that sea- 

 fowl are busy too, crowding on sea-cliff and islet, 

 repairing to the sands and shingles, for the sole 

 purpose of reproduction during this and the three 

 succeeding months. Inland bird-life again presents 

 marked changes in June. The Common Sandpiper, 

 which we know came back in April, is now nesting 

 by the side of upland waters; the Nightjar and the 

 Turtle Dove are breeding. One significant fact the 

 chronicler of avine annals will not fail now to remark 

 is the slight cessation in the glorious concert of the 

 woods and fields. There is a decided decrease in 

 song, especially among our earliest breeding birds. 

 Each may and will be heard to warble on every day 

 of June, but certainly not in such abundance as 

 characterized their melody in May. The Cuckoo is 

 also in less splendid voice, and not unfrequently cries 

 in a treble series of notes instead of the normal 

 double one. As birds are notably later here than 

 in south-western counties, we shall also find that 

 June is certainly a more musical month in Yorkshire 

 than it is in Devonshire. With the advent of July, 



