DEPARTURE OF OUR SUMMER BIRDS 229 



or fly straight away in a rush, for sunnier climes, 

 where the Winter may be spent ? 



The trim and elegant Wheatears, among whom 

 we spent so many pleasant hours during our 

 Summer holiday by the seashore, or in its near 

 vicinity, when did they suddenly make up their 

 minds to leave us ? One day we saw quite a 

 number of old and young birds flying along the 

 coast; the next day they were gone. * We did 

 not, however, see them fly out to sea, and a few 

 days afterwards we noted further birds flying 

 along the sandhills, seeming perfectly at home 

 and not in the least hurry to depart! The only 

 bird of prey which is a Summer migrant — the 

 Hobby Falcon — may be observed occasionally in 

 our English woodlands — it is not a common bird 

 at any time — but we suddenly, and without any 

 warning, cease to notice this high-spirited bird 

 visitor; its departure is silent and mysterious, no 

 noise, no bustle, no excitement. 



Although some individuals of the dapper little 

 Stonechat are to be found among us all the year 

 round, in some districts in Summer, in others in 

 Winter only, he is rarer at the latter season, and 

 no doubt a large number leave us in the Autumn. 

 Others have a partial migration, and it is interest- 

 ing to notice that a number of different birds 

 known to most of us shift their quarters during 

 Autumn and Winter, and their places are occupied 



