276 Siivimer Studies of Birds and Books chap. 



it was that I discovered that the Isle of Wight had 

 arisen out of the mist since I last was within view of it. 



Though I have been at Swanage several times 

 since 1889, I have never again caught the migration 

 in full swing, or seen a party of birds cross to the 

 Isle of Wight ; the weather has been cold and rainy, 

 and such parties as I have seen have always kept to 

 the coast. This was the case in the present year, 1894, 

 when the Swallows seemed all to be harking back 

 from Durlstone Point, though the island was generally 

 visible. The promontory was full of birds, and on 

 all the broken ground occupied by deserted Purbeck 

 quarries the Pipits and Linnets were in extraordinary 

 numbers. The Wagtails of course were here ; and 

 at Studland Bay, three miles to the north, T was 

 delighted to find all three species together, the Pied, 

 the Yellow, and the Gray, in a little flock which 

 seemed to be working slowly along the shore. 



On leaving Swanage we had yet one day of my 

 nephews' holidays, and it chanced that we spent it 

 at Bexhill, two or three miles west of Hastings. At 

 this point many birds might have already crossed 

 the Channel ; but even here there was much travelling 

 to the eastwards. Parties of Hirundines — nearly all 

 of them Swallows, though I saw a single Sand-martin 

 — were hurrying towards Hastings ; the weather was 

 heavy after a stormy night, and in a long stretch of 

 wild ground to the west of the town the birds were 



