The middle of April is perhaps much fuller of events
for the naturalist than any other period of the year. In my record swallow and cuckoo first make themselves apparent about April 12th, and there is a particular clump of bushes where again and again the first nightingale has turned up on April t7th. The botanist's and gardener's calendars become as full as the ornithologist's. One is apt to forget that there are departures as well as arrivals, and these are much harder to observe. This April has been remarkable in my neigh- bourhood for the spectacle of the departing of golden plover, whose spring home is Caithness or the far side of the North Sea. Hundreds of these swift and beautiful fliers were seen making North in the first week of April, a rarely late date. The green plover are nesting in some of the newly ploughed grass fields.
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