04 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



employed by tlie beachmen to find their nests,'^ wbich 

 they do by scent, standing at each Tintil the man 

 comes up to examine it. But here, probably, owing to 

 the close system of egging, which has prevailed for so 

 many years, I have never found the full complement of 

 four eggs, and the beachmen inform me that they rarely 

 find more than three. Some few fragments of shell or 

 shingle may be seen in their nest-holes as in those on 

 the warrens, but on the beach this singular custom would 

 probably pass unnoticed, since the small surrounding 

 pebbles may be so easily swept in by accident. The 

 young, which run almost from their birth, are quite as 

 difficult to find as the eggs, squatting close on the least 

 sign of danger amongst the larger pebbles, to which the 

 colours of their nestling plumage so closely assimilate. 

 Specimens of these little creatures, sent me from Salt- 

 house in their downy state, have the back of the head, 

 neck all round, and the under parts generally, pure 

 white ; the forehead and crown (the latter bordered by 

 a conspicuous narrow black band, across the occiput) the 

 back and wing coverts, mottled with shades of light and 

 dark grey, tinged in places with yellowish brown. By 

 the beginning of August, however, both old and young, 

 scarcely a bird remaining, leave the Salthouse shingles, 

 and seek the more prolific feeding grounds at the mouths 

 of such tidal channels as Blakeney and Cley ; or in little 

 family groups may be found roving along the coast, and 

 feeding amongst the weed-covered rocks, left bare at low 

 water as at Sherringham and Cromer. 



Many of my readers are probably aware that the 



* According to Yarrell (2nd ed., vol. ii., p. 471), when visiting 

 Hastings, iu 1833, he found the same system of using dogs for 

 egg gathering was commonly adopted on the shores of Kent and 

 Sussex. 



