The First Migrants On the subject of migration, I was
in a garden on the border of Worcester and Shropshire, when there appeared suddenly a host of swi uts. They flew round and about the house low down and almost brushed the heads of those who stood to watch them. Within an hour or two they had gone and were not seen again. This was at the beginning of the third week of July. It is an early date for the retv._o migration ; but swifts arc of a sudden and surprising tem- perament. They conic late and go early, like the ash buds among plants ; and their migratory instinct is strong beyond the normal. The difficulty of getting at their nests has limited the number of birds ringed ; but there is a good deal of evidence of the immense range of their bi-annual journeys. It is claimed that some of the tribe, rather bigger than our swifts, are the fastest birds that fly ; but some of us cling to the old trainers' belief that a good big 'un is better than a good little 'un." . The peregrine does not look fast but he can make a pigeon look quite absurdly slow. It seems probable that even the swift does not exceed fifty miles an hour on his long migratory flights.
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