190
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
trees and then the nest is constructed on the ground, sometimes
in the midst of the wildest moors. The migration of the Rock
Pipit is of much interest and one about which we know very
little. It appears in numbers on the Essex coast every winter,
where it may be seen on the mud of the rills and creeks. It
comes to us from its nesting haunt along some rocky coast,
which type of locality is apparently essential to it while it rears
its young.
Before the migrating flocks of Swallows, Martins and Swifts
have made their reappearance they will have passed through
many vicissitudes. The take off from the Essex coast must on
occasion be remarkable. Here is an instance: "Thousands
of Swallows congregated at 6.45 a.m., pitched on the lantern
top and gallery rails, every available spot being covered with
them. Thousands were also on the wing all round the light-
house. At 8.10 a.m. they all rose in a mass and went to the
south-west." It has been definitely proved that some of these
birds go as far as the south of Africa to find winter quarters,
and yet in spite of the tremendous flights and the attendant
dangers on their way to and from their seasonal habitats some
have been known not. merely to return to the same district,
but actually to the same gardens or building, in which they
had been ringed in previous years. A very striking instance
of this has just been made public. Two Swifts were ringed
at Leamington, Warwickshire, one in July, 1925, and the other
in July, 1926, and both were recovered on the 1st July, 1933,
at the place where they had been ringed. That means that this
frail bird had made the tremendous flight on at least eight
occasions in the first case and on seven occasions in the second
case. There is supportive evidence that the birds had returned
annually, as the second bird was recovered also in 1927 and
1929. It is not, therefore, too much to presuppose that we
have at the reservoirs some of the same individuals from year
to year.
Some of the ducks, which do not nest at the reservoirs,
breed commonly enough in our County. One of these, the
Shelduck, is a striking ornament of the coast. The nest,
however, is at times situated a mile or two inland, but the
young, as soon as they are hatched, are led to the fleets of the
marshes. I have never had the good fortune to see this