Wanderings of a Naturalist 



the town of Berwick-on-Tweed, enveloped in a thin cloud of 

 grey smoke, while away to the south were the Fames, on 

 which the swell broke in white drenching showers of spray. 



Between Lindisfarne Castle and the nearest point of the 

 mainland, namely the corner of the Ross Links, there lies a 

 stretch of water perhaps a mile across. The tide was full, 

 but from the waters there emerged two small islands, one 

 crowned with a minute area of bent grass. On this islet 

 were resting together the first of the spring migrants, newly 

 arrived, and the last of the winter visitors, about to take their 

 departure north. It was interesting to see the two species — 

 sandwich terns and bar-tailed godwits — together, and from 

 time to time the harsh cries of the terns were carried across 

 against the wind. Near the terns were resting a flock of 

 perhaps three dozen oyster-catchers, and distributed at vari- 

 ous points along the island were eider drakes, with their mates 

 beside them. Occasionally two drakes would have some 

 trifling difference of opinion, and would grip each other by 

 the nape of the neck, being urged on by their respective 

 wives, who seemed to enter thoroughly into the sport of the 

 thing. On the nearer island there sat and dozed many 

 cormorants, immature, and so free as yet from the anxieties 

 of approaching family cares. 



By midday the wind dropped to the lightest of breezes; 

 the sky remained clear, and in the strong sunlight many 

 insects made their appearance, so that a swallow crossing the 

 island on its northward flight found food in plenty awaiting 

 him. Sandwich terns passed along the coast in twos and 

 threes and in little bunches, plunging into the surf from time 

 to time as their keen eyes spied some surface-feeding fry. 

 In the air was the breath of spring and of summer soon to 

 follow, and all the island seemed to revel in the quietness and 

 sunlight after its long months of winter storms and biting 

 winds straight from the bleak and sunless waters of the dour 

 North Sea. 



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