78 A MIDLAND VILLAGE: GARDEN AND MEADOW. 



in Bome years than others, the more rational conclusion seems 

 to be that an increase or decrease of numbers depends, in the 

 case of migrating birds, on certain causes which are beyond 

 the reach of mankind to regulate. What these may be, it is 

 possible only to guess. A famine in the winter-quarters would 

 rapidly decimate the numbers of those individuals which were 

 with us last summer, and we cannot tell whether the deficiency 

 would be supplied from other sources. Even a severe storm in 

 the spring or autumn journey would destroy an immense number 

 of birds so tender and fragile ; and we must not forget that 

 these journeys take place at the very seasons when storms are 

 especially frequent and violent. Any very serious alteration in 

 the methods of dealing with the land in this country, such as the 

 substitution of railings or ditches for hedges, or the wholesale 

 felling of woods and copses, would also most certainly affect the 

 numbers of this and most other birds ; but in the course of the 

 last few years no such change of any magnitude has taken place, 

 and the increase of the Redstarts must be put down, I think, to 

 causes taking effect beyond the sea. 



The only really annoying destruction of hedges in our im- 

 mediate neighbourhood within my recollection is one for which 

 I ought always to be grateful, for it brought me a sight of the 

 only Black Eedstart I have ever seen in England. I mentioned 

 in the last chapter that this little bird, which is so abundant 

 on the continent all through the summer, never comes to this 

 country except in the autumn, and then only in very small 

 numbers along the south-west coast. It is generally seen in 

 Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall in November, but never breeds 



