XVlll. THE BIRDS OF KENT 



which would probably be covered by the sea at high 

 water were it not for the vast mass of shingle beach 

 thrown up by the sea, forming a protective breakwater. 

 Thousands of acres of this beach are without a blade of 

 grass, and thousands more with just the beginnings of 

 vegetation visible ; this beach increases year by year, and 

 on it many birds breed. Here may be found the Stone 

 Curlew, the Ringed Plover and the Kentish Plover. 

 Here also are colonies of the Common and Little Tern, 

 and Black-headed Gull. Owing to the great difficulty 

 of walking over the vast extent of loose shingle, the 

 nests of these birds are not often robbed, though in all 

 cases where eggs are valuable there is sure to be some 

 persevering robber who manages to find them. 



The whole of the Marsh is much cut and intersected 

 by sewers, as the Marsh drains are called, which are 

 lined with reeds and rushes, and form retreats for 

 Peed and Sedge Warblers ; near the sea where the 

 ditches are wider and there are swampy places, Eedshanks 

 and Wagtails make their nests. At one time, too, there 

 used to be a colony of Sandwich Terns, but they are 

 seldom seen now. 



Not much is known about the arrival of summer 

 migrants on the Kentish coast. From the Bulletin of 

 the British Ornithologists' Club, on the immigration of 

 summer residents it appears that, as far as present 

 observations go, the chief routes taken by the birds lie 

 further to the west, and that the greatest part arrive on 

 the coasts between Devonshire and Hampshire. It may 

 be that the passage over the water to the Kentish coast 

 being so very much shorter, the birds do not alight on 

 reaching land, but pass on into Essex or Suffolk, 

 and so no great quantities are observed at any one time 



