Page:Bird Life Throughout the Year (Salter, 1913).djvu/144

106 reinforced by the arrival of others of their kin which have wintered further south, such as the Curlew, Sandpiper, Turnstone and Godwit. Some of these, together with the Grey Plover and Knot, may be met with, during their short stay, in full breeding plumage. The Stork, Spoonbill and Avocet stray across from Holland to the tidal flats of East Anglia, and, thanks to protection, have more chance than formerly of escaping with their lives. The Black-throated and Red-throated Divers sometimes remain until they have assumed the full livery of the breeding season. Now, also, the Terns or Sea Swallows are seen once more making quick headway with springy beats of their wings, or neatly poising themselves and plunging along the tide-edge. Small parties or "trips" of Dotterel halt for a day or two upon the chalk downs on their way to their nesting haunts upon the mountains of the Lake District or of Scotland.

is late before spring brings any change to the dark monotony of the heather-clad moors. Frequent enough are chilly, sullen days when "Winter lingers in the lap of May," and when, in the middle of the month, there is scarcely a leaf to be seen in the oak-copse which fringes the slope below the moor's edge. But the moorland birds come of a hardy stock. The