Author's Note 



lagged from the flock may sail along, uttering as it were an 

 unwilling inward sound as it passes the intruder ; every- 

 thing is calm and still, the sensation increased by the hot 

 glimmer that spreads along the sands ; there is no voice, 

 there is no animal life. 



During winter the scene may at first sight appear nearly 

 similar ; the warm and flickering haze is changed for a 

 light that can be seen into ; the noise of the suige comes 

 deeper through the clear air of frost, and with it at in- 

 tervals hoarse sounds and shrill whistles, to which the ear 

 is unaccustomed ; acres of dark masses are seen, which 

 may be taken for low rocks or scaups, and the line of the 

 sea in the bays contains something which rises and falls, 

 and seems as if it were about to be cast on shore with every 

 coming swell. 



To sportsmen these signs are familiar, and they know 

 their meaning ; but to one who has for the first time 

 trodden these flat coasts some distant shot or other alarm 

 first explains everything. The line of the coast is now 

 one dark moving mass ; the air seems alive with water- 

 fowl, and is filled with sounds that rise and fall, and vary 

 as the troops wheel around, and this continues until they 

 have again settled to their rest ; as dusk approaches, these 

 sounds are gradually resumed, at first coming from the 

 ground, as warnings that it is time to be alert ; as the 

 darkness and stillness of night sets in, one large flock after 

 another hastens to its feeding ground, and the various calls 

 and the noise of wings is heard with a clearness which is 

 sufficient to enable the sportsman to mark the kinds, and 

 trace his prey, to their feeding-stations, to make him aware 

 of their approach long before they come within his reach. 



The total number oi British birds enumerated by 

 Jenyns, exclusive of twenty-six doubtful species, is thiee 

 hundred and twelve, of which Natatores furnish ninety. 

 Of the latter again, one half nearly is made up of ducks, 

 there being, according to the above-mentioned authority, 

 forty-one species, including the Mergi or Gooseanders. 



The remainder is chiefly composed of gulls, including 

 the terns and petrels ; while the grebes, divers, cormorants, 

 and solan geese make up the balance. 



