With unusual abruptness summer in this part of China has come to an end, and the chilly weather of late autumn has descended upon us without the long-drawn-out spell of mild days that generally makes the second half of September and the first half of October the pleasantest time of the year in Shanghai. This vagary in weather conditions seems to be having a definite effect on the southward migration of the great host of wading birds and wildfowl that annually passes down the China coast in autumn, speeding it up, so that it is definitely ahead of time. This is evidenced by the number of birds that can be heard passing overhead at night. It is quite true that one cannot see the forms of these birds swiftly winging their way to southern climes, but there can be no doubt that they are there, and, if one could at this time visit the shores of the Yangtze Estuary near Woosung or the sea coast near Kaochiao, both within easy reach of Shanghai, one would see flocks of waders and wildfowl making a short stop-over on their long journey to their winter homes. Curlews, whimbrels, godwits, knots, sandpipers, stints, sanderlings, redshanks, greenshanks, dunlins, plovers, lapwings, dotterels, turnstones, stilts, avocets and oyster-catchers—any or all might be seen feeding on the mud-flats or sand-bars uncovered by the receding tide. Some distance off-shore the dark forms of ducks and teals might be seen dotting the water. Many of these last, which come under the category of wildfowl along with the geese and swans, will remain in this general region throughout the winter, spending the day out at sea or in the open water of the Yangtze Estuary and coming inland at dusk to feed during the night on ponds, creeks and canals. On the other hand, shore birds, as the above-mentioned waders are often called, for the most part will be passing on, flying by night and resting or feeding along the coast or on inland marshes during the day. Each night those seen during the day will continue their journey, their place being taken next day by others arriving from the north. And so it will go on until winter has set in, when only a few scattered flocks of birds which have elected to remain with us during the colder months will be seen. If very severe weather sets in, even these will move off southward, only to appear again as soon as the cold spell is over. This shoreland bird life is not familiar to the average city dweller, who visit the seaside only during the summer holidays, when it is conspicuous by its absence. But the sports: who goes gunning for wildfowl knows it Crouching in his blind as he waits for the ducks and teals or wild geese to come whistling in from the sea, he has the opportunity of watching and learning about these shore-birds, as well, of course, as about the wildfowl he is after and many other aquatic species, such as the herons, bitterns and egrets, the gulls and terns, the rails, crakes, moorhen and coot, and the cormorants, pelicans, grebes and divers, all jof which are migrants, coming with the seasons, and contributing
night, we each oom they travel southward to their winter
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