IS'i Pictures of Bird Life 



uiul ui>ain in 11)00, tlic sliores of I^iiicolnshire and Norfolk 

 were strewn with IJttle Auks, either dead or dying. 



It is fortunate, seeing so many rare wanderers turn 

 up on our eastern coasts, tliat there liave been competent 

 observers ever on tlie watch to detect them in both I^in- 

 cohishire and Norfolk. For years jNIr. Caton-Haigh and the 

 late jNIr. Cordeaux in I^incolnshire, and Messrs. Gurney and 

 Southwell and the late Mr. Stevenson in Norfolk, have 

 watched the arrivals annually, and have recorded not a few 

 occiuTcnces of most extreme interest : for among crowds of 

 the common migrants there is always a chance of a rarity ; 

 and folhnving the rush of small birds, for the purpose of 

 preying upon them, are often large birds of prey — such as 

 Falcons and Buzzards. 



The (xreat Grey Shrike is a tolerably common winter 

 \ isitor on our east coast while in attendance on flocks of 

 little birds. 



But while birds which breed in Scandinavia, T^apland, 

 and Sil)eria may be expected to visit us on their south- 

 Avard passage, it is less easy to account for the occasional 

 occurrence of American and Asiatic species. How is it 

 that hardly a year passes without a few such occurrences ? 

 Among the order of Limicola? there are no less than 

 twelve American species which have been recorded from our 

 coasts, and some of these on several occasions. 



It is inconceivable that these birds, which are none of 

 them noted for very strong and long-sustained flight, should 

 have crossed the Atlantic in defiance of all known habits 



