CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



approach, being easily ecticecl within shot by an 

 imitation of their own note, however badly executed. 



During severe weather they may be found congre- 

 gated* to the number of several thousands, generally 

 frequenting tidal mudbanks, and retiring at high water 

 to the adjoining marshes. It is at this season, while 

 feeding on the mud, that they occasionally offer 

 chances of which the punt-gunners in the neighbour- 

 hood are not slow to avail themselves — as many as 

 fifty, sixty, and seventy, being frequently obtained at a 

 shot. 



The specimens in the case were shot on Breydon 

 mudflats, in September, 1871. 



SAND MARTIN— (Immature.) 



Case 8. 



During the early part of the autumn, large numbers of 

 Sand Martins (mostly young) may be observed, parti- 

 cularly during wet weather, settled on the banks and 

 among the reeds that surround the broads and large 

 pieces of water in the eastern part of the island. The 

 case is intended to represent the birds in such a 

 position. 



The specimens were obtained near Shoreham, in 

 Sussex, in September, 1875. 



■'■ Those who have never examined any old works on fowling or 

 gunning, may possibly not be aware that the sportsmen of former 

 days had special terms for the flocks of every description of wildfowl, 

 in the same manner as we speak of a covey of partridges, a bevy of 

 quail, or a wisp of snipe. It used to be 



A congregation of Plover, 



A herd of Swan, &c. &c. 

 Folkard on Wildfowling gives a full account on pages 5 and 6. 



