2.24 On the Occurrence of some of the Barer Species of Birds 



been often told that these birds bred occasionally on our downs, 

 and was promised some eggs by a person who unhesitatingly 

 aflBrmed so ; but when they were sent they turned out to be the 

 eggs of the Stone Curlew, or Norfolk Plover, as I had all along 

 imagined they would be found to be, as they generally nest far more 

 north, in the North of Scotland, and even, I believe, in the Arctic 

 circle. 



Numenius Phceopus. " Whimbrel." " Jack-curlew," as they are 

 sometimes called, from their bearing to the Curlew the same re- 

 lationship as to size and appearance that a Jack-Snipe does to a 

 Whole. " May-birds " they are called by the gunners in the 

 Bristol Channel, from their usual appearance on the coast during 

 their migratorial flight in and about that month. It is not un- 

 common round our coasts in the spring and autumn, and is often 

 seen at the mouth of the Avon. This bird is always connected in 

 my mind with one of the most interesting days in my ornithological 

 rambles. Having heard a wonderful report of the number and 

 variety of birds that resorted at low water to the mud flats round 

 Burnham, I started for that purpose early one morning, with some 

 other enthusiastic bird collectors, in the May of 1861, and crossing 

 over to Sturt Island at high water, we dragged our boat up on the 

 shingle, and prepared for action. The tide in the estuary there 

 recedes at low water to the extent of some 40 feet ! leaving miles of 

 mud banks and sand flats, the delight of innumerable species of 

 water bii'ds and wildfowl. We posted ourselves at difi'erent parts 

 of the island, and having dug holes in the sand and made a slight 

 breastwork of sea weed and other debris, to form a partial screen 

 around us, we hid ourselves therein and waited patiently for the 

 tide to recede. At that time there was not a bird in sight, saving 

 a solitary Oyster Catcher, whose nest we found shortly afterwards 

 close by, and a flock of Bald Coots swimming about on the water 

 some hundred yards ofi" shore. I could not help saying to my 

 friend " I'm afraid we've come on a iooYs errand after all." But 

 he replied " wait a bit, and you will see " ; and our patience was 

 well rewarded. No sooner did the ebbing tide leave a small margin 

 between high, water mark and the receding wavelets than flocks of 



