OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS.

OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS.

AN ACCOUNT OF
THE MIGRATORY BIRDS
WHICH PASS THE SUMMER IN
THE BRITISH ISLANDS.

BY J. E. HARTING, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

AUTHOR OF A “HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS,” A NEW EDITION OF WHITE’S “SELBORNE,” ETC., ETC.

ILLUSTRATED FROM DESIGNS BY THOMAS BEWICK.

LONDON:
BICKERS AND SON,
1, LEICESTER SQUARE.
1875.

CHISWICK PRESS:—PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS,
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.

PREFACE.

For those who reside in the country andhave both leisure and inclination to observethe movements and habits of birds, thereis not a more entertaining occupation than thatof noting the earliest arrival of the migratoryspecies, the haunts which they select, and thewonderful diversity which they exhibit in theiractions, nidification, and song.

There is something almost mysterious in theway in which numbers of these small and delicatelyformed birds are found scattered in oneday over a parish where on the previous day notone was to be seen; and the manner of theirarrival is scarcely more remarkable than theregularity with which they annually make theirappearance.

That most of them reach this country afterlong and protracted flights, crossing the Mediterranean,vithe Bay of Biscay, and the EnglishChannel is an undoubted fact. They have beenseen to arrive upon our shores, and have beenobserved at sea during their passage, often at aconsiderable distance from land.

But how few of those who notice them in thiscountry know where they come from, why theycome, what they find here to live upon, how,when, and where they go for the winter!

In the following chapters an attempt has beenmade to answer these questions, and to givesuch information generally about our summermigratory birds as will prove acceptable tomany who may be glad to possess it withoutknowing exactly where to look for it. Some ofthese sketches were originally published in theNatural History columns of “The Field” duringthe summer of 1871, and as a reprint has frequentlybeen asked for, I have now carefullyrevised them and made some important additionsand emendations, besides adding to theseries a dozen or more chapters which havenever before appeared.

The illustrations, from designs by ThomasBewick, will, it is conceived, add considerably tothe attractiveness of the volume, and will enablethe reader to dispense with particular descriptionsof the species, which it might be otherwisedesirable to furnish. These may be found,moreover, in other works devoted to BritishOrnithology.

James Edmund Harting....