WHIMBREL. 199 



most startling fact, however, for modern housekeepers 

 appears as follows, in the year 1519 : — " Itm pd for a 

 goos v^-» a Pygge iiij<i' ij Curlews xij<i-" 



In the Lord North Accounts we also read, " Kyrlewes 

 to be hadde for my Lordes owne Mees at Pryncipall 

 Feestes, and to be at xij<i- a pece." 



A curlew, with white primary quills, was seen by 

 Mr. Dowell, at Blakeney, in January, 1854. 



NUMENITJS PHJEOPUS (LinnKus.) 



WHIMBEEL. 



The Whimbrel visits us regularly in spring and 

 autumn, on its passage to and from its breeding 

 grounds, and though a few may be seen occasionally 

 in March and April, the appearance of the main body 

 in May, on the Breydon and Blakeney muds, is so 

 invariable that this species is always spoken of as the 

 " May bird " by the gunners in both localities. Their 

 numbers, as with all migratory shore-birds, vary much 

 in different seasons, but at times they are very plenti- 

 ful,* as was particularly the case in the spring of 1863. 

 Of these the chief portion pass on to the northward after 

 a few days, but small parties may be seen on different 

 parts of the coast up to the middle of June, and even 

 as late as July. At Hunstanton in 1863, I found one 

 or two small flocks frequenting the mussel-scalps up to 

 the second week in June ; and Mr. Dowell has observed 



* In the "Zoologist" for 1867 (p. 293), Mr. Cordeaux states 

 that a flock of at least two hundred appeared in the Humber 

 district, about the 3rd of May ; and on the 13th of May, 1868 

 (" Zoologist," p. 1283), he counted up to sixty-one, in one flock ; 

 and saw another containing not less than double that number. 



