LATER MIGRANTS 143 



the island of Majorca ; but in that warm and delectable 

 island the smallholders grow white-blossomed dwarf 

 peas under the almonds ; it is a sight not easily forgotten 

 when a hoopoe with a proud and erect crest runs down 

 the row, rained on by white petals, a patch of moving 

 colour and form in that white city, for the almonds, too, 

 are of the white variety. Such a memory makes one 

 greedy to add the hues of this merry bird to our habitual 

 lists. How pleasant as one stood very still under a 

 hedgerow that best of May occupations listening for 

 the rough little happy chatter of a newly come white- 

 throat to hear of a sudden the triple laughter of this quaint 

 and comely bird I 



It happens that he is almost the most interesting of the 

 migrants. Swallows with rare fidelity will come back to 

 the very same eaves after 7,000 miles of flight since last 

 we saw them. They are singularly true to the point of 

 home. Many others are like them, though less regular. 

 The hoopoe, a most courageous migrant, is eccentric. 

 It will fly north like the swallows out of Africa or Asia 

 in search of its nesting bcme, and so obey the general 

 rule that birds breed and chiefly sing at the most northerly 

 point of their yearly journey ; but while the swallows, 

 like the storks, are constant to special routes, the hoopoe 

 sets off on a patrol as wayward almost as the flight of a 

 butterfly that zigzags upwards, downwards, and side 

 ways on the impulse of wings too wide and splendid for 

 steady guidance. An African bird that means to nest in 

 North Europe will take the East Coast of Ireland on his 

 way. Perhaps, indeed probably, the hoopoes that have 

 occasionally delighted a few eyes in Devon and Sussex are 

 birds of passage resting their feet, like the dove in the 

 Ark, to prepare for further flight. But if they so rest, 

 how can some resist a longer stay ? It is not an idle or 



