226 BIRDS 



language (which is apparently fully understood 

 by the feathered occupants) is very wonderful to 

 listen to. 



Several other Summer visitors are also due. 

 The mimicking Sedge Warbler, the sweet-singing 

 Garden Warbler — which some people consider 

 little inferior to the Nightingale — the ventrilo- 

 quial Grasshopper Warbler, the Reed Warbler, 

 the Nightjar, the Swift, the Corncrake, the Spotted 

 Flycatcher, and the Red-backed Shrike will soon 

 be amongst us. 



VIII. THE DEPARTURE OF OUR SUMMER BIRDS 



Most of our thirty odd purely Summer migrants 

 have bidden us adieu by some time in September. 

 There are a few which leave before August is out, 

 such as the Swift and the Cuckoo; there are a few 

 others — Swallows and Martins, etc. — which are 

 loth to quit our shores and stay on until October 

 and even November. It is interesting to notice 

 that the Swift, although one of the latest birds to 

 arrive among us, is one of the earliest to take its 

 departure. This bird is rarely recorded as appear- 

 ing much before the last days of April or early in 

 May, but its sojourn is a short and busy one, and 

 by August the feathered visitor has taken his 

 departure to far-away Africa. 



The adult Cuckoo is another bird who hies 



