NETTING BIRDS ON THE WASH. 195 



migrants, for at no other time of the year are they 

 observed in such abundance. They delight to frequent 

 the drains of brackish water, and to gorge themselves 

 on crustaceans. We flush another Woodcock from the 

 grass and leaves in the dry ditch below a tall whitethorn 

 hedge, on our way to the village of Friskney ; whilst 

 high up in the blue sky, bunch after bunch of Plover is 

 steadily flying south. In the lower atmosphere tens of 

 thousands of Sky Larks are coming from over the sea, 

 many of them warbling sweetly the moment they reach 

 the land. Verily these vast solitudes of Lincolnshire 

 mudflat and salt marsh are chosen haunts of bird-life, 

 and during the autumn months especially are a paradise 

 for the naturalist. 



O 2 



