Early Birds
Nor are the first immigrants, such as chiff-chaffs and wheatear, early. What is remarkable is the number of blackcaps seen in the south-west. There is, I suppose, no doubt that a certain number of migrant warblers now remain in southern counties throughout the winter ; but I have myself known so many instances (one in Cyprus) of the cock tit being mistaken for the blackcap that credulity is at a discount. I have also known the song, so-called, of the great tit attributed to the chiff-chaff! Identification is often extremely difficult even for the specialist. You see a neutral-coloured silhouette, not a sunlit colour-scheme. However, the bird-table is a great help ; and there are enthusiasts, whose sight is imperfect, who have a magnifying pane of glass fixed in the line of sight between the bird-table and their seat at breakfast. On the whole, migrants are tolerably true to date. Our greatest authority on migrating butterflies tells me that wind makes little or no difference to their dates, and I should say it makes even a smaller difference to birds. When they are once launched on their journey only fog or very severe weather will hold them up.
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