A STORY OF MIGRATION 87 



accepted by the doubters as an authentic creature. In 

 deed, the March arrivals, even among these early birds, 

 are perhaps fewer than is generally thought. Most of 

 them wait till official spring is well in its stride. There 

 are tens of thousands of observers who note April 

 arrivals : the coming of the swallows, the cuckoos and 

 the nightingales. The watchers for the pioneers are to 

 be reckoned in hundreds. 



How many of us associate the wheatear with the South 

 Downs ! No bird was ever quite so ruthlessly harried in 

 the old days, when no gentleman s table that had preten 

 sions to be &quot; elegantly &quot; served was without its dish of 

 wheatear. The shepherds on the Downs were as expert 

 in the snaring as the Egyptian in netting the quail, and 

 both earned a good profit. We have happily changed all 

 that, though the wheatear, in spite- of protection, is less 

 rather than more numerous. That splendid chalk ridge 

 is never better worth a visit than in March, when these 

 engaging birds hop over the short Down grasses as 

 wagtails run on our lawns, and, so to say, &quot;tread the 

 ling like a buck in spring.&quot; For the bucks come first, 

 by a sure instinct just anticipating their mates. When 

 did the sexes separate, and where ? We have lately 

 discovered where the ouzels go to, one wave using the 

 South of England as a mere stepping-stone to Scandi 

 navia. We know all about the wheatear s nest. But you 

 may search authority in vain for facts about the start of 

 the journey. Though much briefer, the journey of these 

 March pioneers is yet more mysterious than the great 

 northern passage of the swallow. 



March is the most exciting of the months ; but it is 

 more exciting in the West than the East. The first birds 

 of passage for some reason prefer to land on the western 

 part of the South Coast, The ouzel is a pure Westerner, 



