lURD MOVEMENTS IN SPRING 47 
nesting of our indigenous birds, and the times of arrival in this 
country of our summer migrants. 
Of the former, the earliest to commence nesting prepara- 
tions are always the rooks, which, when the spring is mild, begin 
to clean out their old nests early in February, and even, it has 
been recorded, in January, whilst by the first week in March 
we find rookeries everwhere in progress. 
Simultaneously with the appearance of the young shoots 
of the hawthorn, usually in evidence by the middle of March, 
the common song thrush, the missel thrush, and the blackbird 
commence to turn their attention to suitable sites for their 
nests. All of these, to which may be added the robin, which 
nests soon after, are very conservative, and once a choice has 
been made nest after nest, year after year, built by the same 
bird, may be looked for in the favoured nook. 
Soon after we may look for nests of the hedge accentor, 
wren, starling, and house sparrow ; and though there are tales 
anent the breeding of both of the latter in February and even 
in January “ down south,” it may be taken as a general rule 
that after the rook, the earliest birds to commence breeding 
operations, are the song thrush, missel thrush and blackbird. 
Following these come in varying order, more or less according 
to position inland or on the sea-board, latitude north or south, 
and altitude, the chaffinch, the tits, the red or water wagtail, 
the lapwing, the duck — instances of the breeding of which 
in mid-winter have been recorded on various occasions — the 
owls, hawks, carrion crow, magpie, jackdaw, jay, moorhen, 
game-birds and so forth. 
Owing to various reasons the dates of nidification of our 
indigenous birds are less liable to vary than the dates both 
of arrival and nidification of our summer visitors, and they 
therefore call for less attention in this article, which is admittedly 
only of a very general character. With the nesting of the 
thrush and the blackbird, however, we begin to feel that some 
change is coming over the face of Nature. The sounds in the 
wood are more varied, and we recognise that they come from 
the throats of songsters that have deserted us for warmer climes 
for quite half a year, since the autumn, in fact. Fresh interest 
is aroused in us, and we sail}' forth with a much lighter step 
than perhaps has been our wont for some long time past. Antici- 
pation holds us spell-bound for awhile, and then with recollec- 
tions of former cycles of the same kind in the round of Nature’s 
year, we press on with eager expectation. What, for instance, 
is that not unpleasing monotone from the top of yon lofty 
tree ? It is the chiff-chaff, we remember, and on referring to 
a mental calendar we remark that it is unusually early, for 
previously we had not heard it before the i8th or 19th, and this 
is the 13th of March. With this first record of migratory bird- 
life in our minds and some such thoughts as the above, we may 
