196 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



see into the boat." Single birds may be occasionally 

 decoyed within shot of a bank or other ambush, by 

 skillful whistling ;* but in companies, as Mr. Lubbock 

 states, " they are deaf to the call." 



Though always plentiful on the Breydon muds, this 

 species is met with in still larger numbers at Blakeney, 

 and thence, westward, along the flat shores of the 

 Wash to Lynn may be termed their chief stronghold 

 in Norfolk. In the spring of 1863, I found them very 

 plentiful at Hunstanton, though almost unapproachable 

 on those level sands, but their daily visits to the 

 mussel-scalps, with that marvellous punctuality observ- 

 able in such species as regularly frequent the sea coast, 

 proved a constant source of amusement. Scarcely was 

 the thin black line visible above the waves, which 

 marked the outline of a large submerged mussel- 

 bed, than curlews and sea-gulls appeared in the 

 distance, the former in small detachments and in Indian 

 file, slowly flapping over the waters to their expected 

 feast, which their long legs and bills enabled them to 

 commence at once, not waiting, like the hovering 

 sea-gulls for a drier surface. First to arrive they 

 were also the last of their kind to quit their feeding 

 grounds, seeking the highest spots as the tide rose, 

 and taking wing only when the "scalps" were barely 



* Mr. W. H. Power, in the " Zoologist" for 1866 (p. 124), gives 

 a singular account of the means by which the fishermen and " mud- 

 diggers," at Eainham, in Kent, decoy curlew within shot. A trained 

 dog, as much like a fox as possible, is employed to attract the 

 birds, whilst the man hides in a "dyke," and when the birds 

 attack and chase him, the dog gradually approaches his master's 

 hiding place, when sometimes two or three shots are obtained 

 (provided the gunner keeps concealed), so engrossed are the 

 curlews with the actions of the dog ; but both this plan and the 

 " curlew whistle" fail to attract them in parties of more than four 

 or five. 



