. Birds through the year . mock orange-blossom has ceased todrench the walks with its heady odour of the solstice, theeyes have vanished from the bushes. Already thinned, thenimbler troops of young fare forth with their parents to widerfeeding-grounds ; and so, like the faintest movement of the LEARNING TO FLY 205 ebb-tide in a brimmed sea-channel, the autumn migrationis already distantly begun. Mixed troops of old and youngbirds appear in the new-cut hay-fields, pecking at the seedsof the fallen flowers, or feeding on the insects laid bare inthe swaths and stubble. Plumage grows hard to disti
. Birds through the year . mock orange-blossom has ceased todrench the walks with its heady odour of the solstice, theeyes have vanished from the bushes. Already thinned, thenimbler troops of young fare forth with their parents to widerfeeding-grounds ; and so, like the faintest movement of the LEARNING TO FLY 205 ebb-tide in a brimmed sea-channel, the autumn migrationis already distantly begun. Mixed troops of old and youngbirds appear in the new-cut hay-fields, pecking at the seedsof the fallen flowers, or feeding on the insects laid bare inthe swaths and stubble. Plumage grows hard to distinguish,though not so hard as when the old birds are in full moult inJuly ; and some of the young ones wear curious and freakishliveries. Young willow-wrens, for example, flit among thecurrant-bushes in suits almost as yellow as a tits or wagtails ;and in spite of their insectivorous reputations they do notalways spare the fruit. It seems more natural to see youngblue and great tits in bright suits of yellow and green. With. YOUNG GREAT TITS them the chief point worth notice is that they adopt theirparents gay colours so early, whereas many other young birdsdo not gain the full adult plumage for months or even first plumage of young robins is a dull brown, fleckedwith tawny spots, and few of the young birds which arebrought up in open nests, whether in boughs or on the ground,present a close likeness to the adult plumage in their firstsummer. More uniformity is observable in the case of birdswhich nest in holes. Even the young wagtails, which areusually nested in open and unsheltered cavities, have a plainfamily likeness to their parents. The little pied wagtail newly 206 SUMMER strayed from the nest is fascinating in its immature parti-coloured suit; though it has the blurred markings and ratherimpure colours which are characteristic of all young young blue and great tits are like smudged copies of theadult birds, though the likeness does not bear exact comp
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirdspi, bookyear1922
