OBSERVED IN nEETFORDSHIEE IX 1881. 85 



that was near the famous Sittinjij Cohtssi, in the height of tlio 

 migratory season, but 1 had a fine ohl bird sent me from Damietta, 

 in the Delta. I liave never believed that this species was ever 

 suthoicntly common in England to warrant the application of the 

 old couplet which appears to refer to its market value — 



' A Curlew, be she wliite or black, 

 She carries ten-pence on her back.' 



The grey-lag goose, the crane, and the spoonbill were common in 

 the days of our forefathers, but not so the stork, the ibis, or the 

 egret." 



5. The Whimbkel {jVumenius Fhaopus.) — The Eev. C. W. Harvey 

 reports that a whimbrel was shot by ^Ir. John Coleman, in the 

 p.irish of Throcking, during the month of July. Our Society is in- 

 debted to Mr. John H. Gurney, jun., for the following particulars : — 

 " The whimbrel is a bird well known to shore-shooters. It bears 

 a general resemblance to a cuiiew, but differs from it in the size 

 and colour of the crown of its head. It is of migratory habit ; its 

 distribution extending from Greenland to India and fiom Russia 

 to the Cape of Good Hope. Captain Shelley met with it in Egypt, 

 but it cannot be very common, as I did not see it during my seven 

 months' collecting in that country. Probably it is nowhere com- 

 moner than in Iceland and the Earoe Isles, where it breeds 

 abundantly. It also breeds sparingly in Scotland. In England it 

 is known as a bird of spring passage, and, at various places, has 

 obtained the name of ' May-biixl.' In Ireland it is said to be 

 common in that month, but very rare in the autumn, and several 

 observers conjecture that whimbrels return southward in the autumn 

 by a different route. On the coast of Norfolk — at such harbours as 

 Breydon, Blakeney, and Lynn — their apparent scarcity is, I am 

 sure, explained by their resemblance to the young of the curlew. 

 I have frequently shot them and have found them easier to get near 

 to than curlews. I often find single birds feeding at low-tide in 

 salt-water ditches, a place the curlew hardly ever affects. I have 

 one in my collection which was killed at Stratford- on- Avon, which 

 is nearly in the centre of England." 



6. The Dunlix {Tringa nlpina). — Mr. W. Hill, jun., informs me 

 that three dunlins were picked up, either dead or dying, after the 

 great gale of January 18th, in the neighbourhood of Hitchin. The 

 following account of the dunlin is from the pen of Mr. Henry 

 Seebohm:* — "The dunlin is a circumpolar bird, visiting the 

 British Isles in winter and breeding in considerable numbers in 

 Scotland. Its principal breeding-ground is on the tundras beyond 

 the limit of forest growth, but it is also found nesting south of the 

 arctic circle. It winters in the basin of the Mediterranean, and in 

 Africa as far south as Abyssinia." 



7. The Ringed Plover {jEuialith EiaticuU^.—^lv. W. Norman 

 reports that a ringed plover was killed by flying against telegraph- 

 wires near Royston. The ringed plover or dotterel is common on 



* ' Siberia,' p. 180. 



