Spring Visitors When spring sets in, even " with its
usual severity," hun- dreds of observers record the date of arrival of the first immi- grant birds, which included before March was out sand- martins, as well as wheat-ear and chiff-chaff. Excesses of the weather have not delayed these tender little birds by a day : they have come pat to the proper dates ; and, as usual, a con- siderable proportion of the earliest observations have been made in the neighbourhood of London—Norwood, for example. One reason, out of several, why these visitors are so much easier to detect on arrival than departure is that the first sight of England sets them singing. Beginners have been known to confuse the songs of great tit and chiff-chaff : but in virtually all species identification by song is sure and comparatively easy. The silhouette of a small brownish bird in a budding hedge or tree offers a sterner problem.
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