MIGRATION AND FLIGHT. 
101 
examined. Is it for the sake of rearing its young 
that the Woodcock leaves us early in the spring for 
the marshes or heaths of Norway, when England 
and Scotland, even now, might provide spots as 
solitary and appropriate as the most timid bird 
could desire ? Is it to feed on our comparatively 
scanty supply of gnats and midges, and other small 
insects of the air, that a certain number of the 
Swallow tribes tarry in Britain during the summer 
season, when Sweden and Norway could provide, in 
tenfold quantities, insects of this sort for every 
Swallow, and Martin, and Swift in Europe ? When 
the Redwing and Fieldfare quit this country, it 
often abounds with that food which they prefer to 
any other, and at the time of their departure they 
are in the finest condition. Again, the younger 
birds, in many cases, do not depart at the same time j 
and when they do, it has been ascertained that they 
frequently do not go so far as the old ones. Other 
birds again, which in some places are constantly to 
be found, will in others disappear for a certain time, 
and then return without any discoverable cause. 
Thus, the Kingfisher, which in the northern part 
of England may be seen all the year round, on some 
parts of the southern coasts only makes its appear- 
ance in October in considerable numbers, and as 
regularly departs in the following spring. Few 
would suspect our constant and lively companions, 
the Jays and Chaffinches, to be at times travellers, 
but so it is, there is proof of the fact. 
Some gentlemen near Tunstall, in Suffolk, who 
were out shooting, about five miles from the sea, 
observed an extraordinary flight of Jays passing in a 
