113 



It appears that two centuries ago the sands and marshes by 

 the Tees estuary were remarkable for the number of birds which 

 nested there, as the following quotation from the Cott. MS., 

 copied from Graves's ' History of Cleveland ' will show : — ' Neere 

 unto Dobham, The Porte of the mouth of the Teese [now called 

 Cargo-fleet, or, more properly, the Cleveland Port] the shore 

 lyes flatt, where a shelf of sand raised above the highe water 

 marke, entertaines an infynite number of sea-fowle*, which lay 

 theyr Egges heere and there scatteringlie in such scrte, that in 

 Tyme of Breedinge one can hardly sett his Foote so warylie, that 

 he spoyle not many of theyr Nests. These curious Buylders may 

 furnish themselves with choice of shells and particoloured stones 

 fytt for the makinge of artifyciall works.' In the memory of 

 man large numbers of birds, I have been informed by a friend 

 who was born there, still frequented the shore opposite Cargo- 

 fleet, and nested on the shingle there and in the adjoining ditches 

 and marshes. Wild Ducks, Wild Geese, Snipe, and Water-hens 

 were some of the birds mentioned as breeding here. Snipe may 

 be taken as including the Eedshank and others, as I find birds of 

 that kind are called Snipes indifferently by many people in tha 

 district. The fore shore at Cargo-fleet is now covered with 

 ironworks and a graving dock. The Ring Dotterel (JEgialdis 

 hiaticula) no doubt nested on the shingle, as it does still at a 

 particular place, in some numbers, every season. I have before 

 me, while writing, two eggs of this bird, taken from a nest 

 containing four, found in a slag-bank last year (1885). They 

 are spotted with dark brown, on a drab ground, and also with 

 less distinct greyish-purple spots. Dunlins remain all the 

 spring and summer. The Redshank ( Tot/mm calidris) used to 

 nest in Coatham Marshes, and may do still occasionally ; a pair 

 nested, to my knowledge, on the north side of the river in the 

 summer of 1884. Two or three Spotted Redshanks (Totanus 

 fuscm) were shot at the estuary last autumn. 



It is not improbable that the Rufff (Machets ptignax) bred 

 here formerly. I have seen a very tine pair of male birds that 

 were shot in the month of March, in the act of fighting, twenty- 

 five years ago. Cormorants (Phalncrocorav carbo) , still nest in 

 the cliffs beyond Saltburn, and during the breeding season they 

 are observed to make daily visits to the Tees mouth. 



♦Probably Terns, with a few Oyster Catchers and Binged Plovers. 

 fSee note on Buff in present Proceedings. 



