620 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



The causes which govern the abundance or scarcity of 

 shore-birds visiting our islands are not within the knowledge 

 of naturalists in this country, but it may be of interest to 

 state that years of " great plenty " were 1872, 1881, 1883, 

 1887, 1892, and 1895. In the days before the invention of 

 the breech-loader, when the mud-flats of our estuaries were 

 less frequented by gunners than at present is the case, large 

 bags of Knots were secured by fishermen and professional 

 fowlers. I have often heard old sportsmen relate their ex- 

 periences of these times " afore t' licenses cam oot," when 

 they sometimes bagged more Knots and Godwits than they 

 could conveniently carry, and, as birds of this class are 

 gregarious and pack into close bodies, it follows that a " shot 

 into the brown " is attended with disastrous effects ; I have 

 myself, in recent years, gathered thirty- two Knots killed 

 with a " right and left " from a 12-bore, though the bird does 

 not now occur in anything like the same numbers as formerly. 



Its vernacular name in the Spurn district is Plover Knot. 

 In the Tees it is known to the professionals as Dunlin ; Redcar 

 fishermen call it Grey Plover ; and Red Sandpiper is an old 

 term, now obsolete, used in Fothergill's list (Whitaker's 

 " Richmondshire," 1823). 



SANDERLING. 

 Calidris arenaria (L.). 



Spring and autumn migrant to the coast line, very abundant ; 

 a few remaining during winter. Occasionally occurs inland. 



Probably the first reference to this, as a county species, 

 is to be found in Williamson's Scarborough List (P.Z.S. 1836, 

 part iv. p. 77), where it is stated that it " visits the shore 

 in May and September." 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : 



Calidris arenaria. Sanderling S. Gibson reports this species as 

 rare near Hebden Bridge ; it is met with on the coast. A. Strickland 



