BIRD-Lin, FROM TRAIN WINDOWS.
pASSENGERS by rail not infrequently complain of the dullness of a modern railway journey. Those whose Whitsuntide holidays take them by train to coast or country might lighten the hours so spent by the study of bird-life as seen from the carriage window. Not all trains are expresses ; and birds of most kinds now take far less notice of the train than they do of a single traveller. In many parts of England the line is absolutely the best place from which to watch certain species ; while in Holland the railway, raised above the level of the wet polders and meadows, forms a kind of ornithologists' high road, with a view over the whole bird-life of the interior.
Wherever the line approaches the coast there is a chance that it will run for some way through marshes and reclama- tions. These seldom fail to yield some interesting scenes in the wild life of the coast, in whatever part of England the line is situated. When the Irish mails leave Chester for Holyhead, they run first along the margin of the wide estuary of the Dee, and later on a narrow fringe of reclaimed marshes lying between the foot of the Welsh mountains and the Irish Channel. At high tide all the vast flocks of birds which feed on the sands of the Dee fly inland and pitch on these marshes, where they remain often within a few yards of the line. The writer has seen a woodcock sitting on a heap of slag at Conna,h's Quay, and shore birds in thousands on the marshes further west. In winter flocks of peewits are scattered over the wet meadows, redshanks are flitting along the water-channels, as if on the polders at Schiedam, and flocks of " purres "and ringed plovers rise and fly out to the sandhills. There are a few small pools belonging to private houses on the land side of the line, and into these the gulls drop during this state of the tide, and float in scores like white ducks on a mill-pond. Nearer Holyhead, where the line runs through Anglesey, the numbers of certain birds are greater than in any part of the north-western mainland. Anglesey is full of small wet marshes, wet rushy meadows, and shallow pools. These swarm with golden plover and green plover during the open weather in winter, and the birds rise literally in thousands as the train rushes through on its way to the rocks of Holyhead. There, again, rock Ofowl appear, and a totally different phase of bird-life may be studied as the steamer passes out through the fishing- grounds of the birds of the Skerries and Holy Island. Passengers for the East Coast, making for Hunstanton, Cromer, or Sheringham, have the choice of going and returning by two routes, either of which is singularly rich in bird-life, as seen from train windows. From Lynn to Hunstanton, and on to Wells, the line runs through the vast fringe of flats and marshes by the side of the Wash, past the heaths of Sandring- ham, and through the marshes of Holkham. At Woiferton the heaths and preserves of the Prince of Wales run down to the line, and at the present moment show a wealth of bird- life not often equalled in the South of England. The last of the Norfolk grouse, some eight or nine venerable birds, are constantly to be seen sunning themselves in the heather grow- ing on the inland side of the line. Just beyond is a steep heathy moor. There, scattered like shining balls of white and black, lie the sheldrakes, basking, while their wives are sitting on their eggs in rabbit-burrows close by. These birds have, under the care of the Prince's keepers, risen in number from two or three to twenty pairs at least, and during the nesting season are always visible at this spot. There, too, a Norfolk plover may sometimes be seen, while redshanks on the lower flats, and brilliant cock pheasants quietly feeding among the small birches and pines, and partridges sitting in the tussocky grasses, show how varied is the bird-life near this portion of the line. From Heacham to Holkham the line passes inland, but at Holkham once more runs through the marshes. News of the coming of the wild grey geese may always be obtained from the guards of the trains which pass through this flat, and after September the birds may be seen in hundreds from the carriage windows, feeding on the levels or flying across them. At the present time the whole reclama- tion is dotted over with groups of wild duck, herons, pheasants, sheldrakes, and Canada geese, often to be seen within a few yards of the line fences. If the inner line of rail be taken from Lynn to Melton Constable, the partridge can be studied "at home" in every phase of his daily life. On the great preserves on either side these birds come out literally in hundreds, on to the fields on either side of the line, to feed, bask, or fight, as the fancy takes them. When enjoying the evening sun they are as tame as chickens. Some lie with a wing or leg stretched out on the grass fields, others raise their heads and crow as the engine puffs past, others quietly feed in the sown fields. It is like a series of Mr. Thorburn's pictures. When the line cuts through a wet common or heath, as at Gayford, snipe rise up and dart skywards, "humming." The London, Brighton, and South Coast line emerges at Pulborough, from the region of wood and weald, on to the marshes of the Rother and Arun. Here the typical birds of the great grazing grounds of England may be seen better than on the Bridgwater Flats on the Great Western, which are singularly bare of life. The Pulborough Marshes are, in winter, the haunt of the Royston crow, with grey back and shoulders, and of thousands of rooks and starlings. The flight of the starling flocks, as they rise startled by the train, is a very interesting study in bird- evolutions, while if they happen to fly parallel with the train an estimate may be formed of their rate of speed. It seldom equals that of the coaches, even if these are not travelling more than thirty miles per hour. Of the trunk lines leaving London, the Great Northern, Midland, and North-Western show little bird-life on their borders. The Great Western and South-Western, on the other hand, afford some very pretty glimpses of the domestic life of water birds, and of some other interesting species. At Tilehurst, beyond Reading, the Great Western Railway touches the river Thames. Opposite this section of the line are several small eyots in the river, which for some years have been the headquarters of increasing numbers of dabchicks. When the train comes up they all dive, but reappear at the moment when the rear carriage is about to pass. If the passenger looks back he will often see a whole fleet of these little birds appearing, as if by magic, on the surface of the water, on which they float instantly, without wave or ripple, as if they had been " developed " on the surface of a sensitive plate. "Ballast holes," or long excavations whence gravel has been taken to form the top of the embankment, are a feature of other parts of the Great Western, especially on the main line past Didcot, between Steventon and Wantage. Here there is half a mile of these deep reedy pools, one succeeding another on the right of the down line. These have for many years been a great resort of coots and waterhens, which, with a few dabchicks, nest there every year. They are also the regular drinking place of the flocks of rooks, starlings, and coveys of partridges which haunt that part of the Vale of the White Horse. It is noticed that the coots only use two of the ponds, while the waterhens and dabchicks frequent all alike. On the South- Western the great centre of bird-life is on the Fleet Pond. The line cuts this into two unequal parts, one on the right of the down line, reedy and sedgy, the other on the left, a large expanse of open water. This is mainly haunted by coots, large flocks of which assemble there in winter. In the smaller rushy pool there are now often con- siderable numbers of wild duek visible at certain times of the year, .the result probably of local preservation. Two other bird colonies on this line have existed for at least fifty years. These are the sand-martins in the cuttings at Weybridge, and the swifts which always circle in scores over the station at Gods'ming. The Weybridge sand-martins have long been credited with keeping that part of the line free of the plagues of flies and gnats which sometimes assemble in the shelter of the cuttings. The Godalming swifts breed mainly in the spire of the church. But they seem to have a liking for the railway, and make the station the centre of their swift and screaming circuits on summer evenings. .
Golfers who are making for the links of the Isle of Wight Golf Club at. Bembridge enjoy a view of one of the most charming of all the wild-fowl preserves in the West, after leaving the South-Western and crossing the Solent. From Brading Junction to Bembridge the line skirts the side of the ancient Brading Haven, with its salt-pools, sedges, and the lowest waters of the Yar. There all the commoner English breeding ducks, with plover, ring-dotterel, gulls, herons, and even an occasional raven, may be seen flying or basking about the flats, while some hundred half-wild swans are nesting, many of them close to the line, or may be seen flying in ordered ranks from the inner marsh to the salt harbour, which is their' marine feeding ground.
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