84 BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



eggs and runs to some distance before she rises. Noisy 

 Redshanks are greatly concerned as to the safety of their 

 nests, which are carefully hidden in the tufts of rushes. 

 A Snipe starts up close before us, rises high into the 

 air till he is a mere speck, then swerves suddenly 

 downwards, making as he descends the well-known 

 buzzing sound, otherwise called "bleating" or 

 " drumming," and believed to be due to the action of 

 the air upon the stiff quills and tail-feathers. No more 

 curious performance marks this month of mating and 

 song. In certain parts of the country the Black- 

 headed Gulls now flock in large numbers to their 

 breeding stations, the meres and " broads " of Norfolk, 

 the " fleets " of the Essex marshes, or the " flows " 

 of the Solway, hovering like a cloud of snowflakes 

 above the chosen site. In similar spots the Wild 

 Duck leads out her brood, and the Coot moors her 

 floating mass of dead flags and rushes to the branch of 

 a fallen tree which stretches out level with the water. 

 The Little Grebe, or Dabchick, has returned to the 

 reed-fringed pond, and on larger sheets of water the 

 Great Crested Grebe may be seen displaying in full 

 beauty its curious head-gear consisting of a double 

 crest and tippet. 



Upon rocky parts of the coast, April is marked by 

 the return to their breeding haunts of a host of sea- 

 fowl, Guillemots, Razorbills and Puffins. The loud 

 jubilant cackle of the Herring Gulls is heard from the 



