THE WADERS OF SOLWAY. 59 



aud eastern origin, and the watcher will note how the flocks he 

 has been observing will disappear some dark October evening, 

 and how for the next few days only a few odd birds will be 

 seen. Then flocks muster up from he knows not where and 

 again go oft', leaving comparatively few to pass the winter 

 months and enliven the wide solitudes of the sand banks with 

 their movements and long-drawn eei'ie cries. 



The shore gunner has a great regard for the Curlew. Not for 

 any particular delicacy it may display as a table fowl, for, as a 

 matter of fact, its shore feeding on crabs, mussels, lug worms, 

 and such like dainties does not conduce to a flavour that recom- 

 mends it to a cultivated palate. The attractions of the Curlew 

 as a bird of sport lie in its extreme wariness. He who can get 

 his eye on a Whaup before it gets its eye on him, and who can 

 thereafter stalk aud shoot it, is a sportsman worthy of com- 

 mendation, and, I my add, envy also. 



Whimbrel (Numenius phceopus). 

 In May it is an interesting occupation to watch the small 

 parties of Whimbrel passing on their migration from some such 

 favourable place of observation as Southerness Point. These 

 are, as a rule, at great heights, but their tittering calls will 

 attract the eyes upwards to the compact little flocks rapidly 

 passing out of sight. From the 10th to the 15th May, during 

 the mid-day hours, the Whimbrels will regularly be seen at this 

 time if the weather be warm and genial, with a gentle 

 breeze or none at all, and light, fleecy white clouds speckling 

 the skies. Only a few of these passing migrants alight, and 

 they never stay more than a day or so, although a succession is 

 kept up during the most of the month. Sir Wm. Jardine once 

 shot a pair on a salt marsh on the Koss at the mouth of the 

 Dee, which he thought were breeding, but no nest could be 

 found. On a moor in Closeburn a nest, supposed to be that 

 of a Whimbrel, was shown to me on June 15th, 1895. Two eggs 

 had been taken from it, one of which I examined. It looked 

 like that of a Whimbrel, and certainly no one could have 

 distinguished it from an authenticated egg, but, of course, full 

 proof was wanting. The Whimbrels stay long with us in 

 autumn, but are then scarce and local. 



