SCOL OP A CIDM— WHIM B RE L. 



257 



no less than seventy-five of these \-eiy wary birds at once, as I am informed by 

 Mr. Fitch. 



'Whimhrel : Nunie/iiiis phcTopiis. Locally, "Titterel," "May- 

 bird," or "Jack-Curlew" (Orsett). 



Common on the coast as a passing migrant in spring and autumn, 

 when on its way to or from its northern breeding-stations. They 

 are often seen until the 



end of May, and re-ap- - -, .-^ 



pear soon after the mid- 

 dle of July. It is occa- 

 sionally seen inland. 



Sheppard and Whitear say 

 (9. 42), " these birds arrive 

 on the coasts of Essex and 

 Suffolk early in May, and 

 migrate again in the latter 

 part of the autumn." In 

 1880, Mr. Travis received a 

 specimen found in a field 

 near Newport with one wing 

 off, it having flown against 

 the telegraph-wires. Edward Doubleday wrote in 1835 (15) that it had been 

 killed at Sewardstone. The Rev. J. C. Atkinson writes (36. 122): "It is seen, 

 in no great numbers, on many of our coasts in winter ; but I have met with it on 

 the Essex Saltings only in the early spring and previous to its retirement to the 

 north to breed." 



Parsons has many observations on their appearance in his neighbourhood on 

 migration. In spring he has many notes of them between the end of April 

 and the 23rd or 24th of May : for instance, 1836, May 16, "a very large flock of 

 forty or fifty about the lower marshes. New England." 1837, May 23rd, "saw 

 some up the Ray." 1838, May 23rd, " many about ; " 29th, "saw only one to-day." 

 They seem usually to re-appear in the autumn about or soon after the middle of 

 July, though in 1834, he " saw some on the sands" on June 28th. In 1843, he says 

 that a few had arrived on July 14th, and a great many on the 24th (22). 



^>= 



WHIMLKEL, 1/8 



