go BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



second week which as a rule brings the first Swallow, 

 skimming past on light and graceful wing and looking 

 all steel-blue in the April sunshine, which has filled 

 the meads with marsh-marigolds and brought a crowd 

 of bees to the wallflowers. The flight of the swallow 

 is so entirely different from that of any of our resident 

 birds that with the merest glimpse one recognises the 

 new-comer. For some days previously the Sand 

 Martin, shorter winged and mouse-coloured, has been 

 hawking gnats over the surface of lake and river. 

 With the Swallow comes the Willow Wren. Its soft, 

 liquid, musical chime is heard from the orchard, 

 when the grass begins to grow long and sends up the 

 first flower-spikes or bennets. Now, too, in the 

 meadows, running about amongst the grazing cattle, 

 is seen the Yellow Wagtail, not to be confused with the 

 so-called Grey Wagtail which has haunted brooks 

 and stream-sides through the winter, though the 

 latter, unfortunately for clearness of nomenclature, 

 also shows a good deal of yellow. But there is no 

 mistaking the rich canary-yellow breast of the new 

 arrival. 



By the middle of the month the Nightingale should 

 be heard in its favourite haunts, not as yet in concert 

 form, but merely, as it were, running over the opening 

 bars. All the warblers, if the weather is Cold when 

 they arrive, remain silent and are little seen. It is 

 noticeable that each pair of nightingales keeps through- 



