INTRODUCTION. xiii 



mouth and Studland ; and the estuaries of Poole and 

 Weymouth Fleet, at the head of which is a remark- 

 able swannery, of which the Earl of Ilchester is 

 owner, notable not only on account of its antiquity, 

 but also as being the only swannery existing in Great 

 Britain. The extensive tracts of down, heath, and 

 woodlands which stretch away through the county 

 have each their particular attractions to the various 

 species whose habits and instincts are satisfied by food 

 and other favourable circumstances. The Greater and 

 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Cormorant, 

 and Shag share with the Razor-Bill, Guillemot, and 

 Puffin the grand cliffs of Old Harry and Whitenore 

 for rearing their young. The Common Tern has an 

 extensive breeding colony on the Chesil Bank, where 

 the Ringed Plover also breeds in great abundance. 



The heaths and sandy wastes which border the 

 estuaries of Poole and Weymouth offer nesting facili- 

 ties to the Sheldrake, Pochard, Oyster-Catcher, Black- 

 headed Gull, and Curlew. I received an egg of the 

 last-named bird a few years since which had been 

 taken from a nest near Poole Harbour. (See p. 100.) 

 The chick it contained was hatched on the journey ; it 

 had burst through the shell, which was neatly broken 

 in two in unequal parts, the lower one the largest, as 

 is usual when the birth of the bird is natural. It 

 was mature, covered with its characteristic down ; the 

 bill, although curved, was proportionally shorter than 

 in the adult. The colour of its legs distinguished it 

 from the young Stone Curlew, whose beak besides 

 is short and straight. The chick is in the County 



