April, 1913. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



133 



so that in certain years, as in 1911, when there was 

 an exceptionally high tide in the end of June, 

 hardly a young bird was hatched out. That year 

 the colony consisted of some sixty pairs, or probably 

 more. The lesser tern is almost as bold as its larger 

 relative. The male is generally supposed not to 

 incubate the eggs. 

 Figure 1.52, however, 

 shows him in the act. 

 with his wife waiting 

 for her turn. Three 

 is usually stated to 

 be the average num- 

 ber of eggs, but some 

 forty-five nests exam- 

 ined the maximum 

 number found was 

 two. 



Another bird found 

 nesting in some num- 

 bers, though it lays 

 earlier than the terns, 

 and is resident the 

 year round, is the little 



ringed plover (see Figure 134). You find its eggs 

 chiefly behind the dunes (see Figure 135), and in 

 small sheltered lows. The birds seem to object to the 

 exposed shingle. They are extremely shy, and to 

 secure a photograph of one needs the exercise 

 of considerable 

 patience. Other 

 birds that are found 

 nesting are larks, 

 pipits, wagtails, red- 

 legged partridge, 

 sheld-duck and one 

 pair of oyster 

 catchers. Last year, 

 for the first time, 

 there were two. 



All the common 

 gulls are well repre- 

 sented, though none 

 nest. Other sea 

 birds pay short 

 visits 

 the summer 



Should your visit 

 fall in the winter 

 months, you would 

 find the Point very 

 different. With the 



exception of a few gulls flapping over lazily from 

 the mainland, no birds come near the boat as you 

 cross. When vou have landed you find that the 

 shingle, so noisy and full of life in the summer, is 

 now deserted rind the marshes arc the scene of 

 activity. Should you hide and watch them with a 

 pair of binoculars, you will soon notice that the 

 waders predominate. The commoner species are 

 curlew, dunlin, sanderling and ringed plover, with 

 an occasional redshank, while knot occur in vast 



Figure 134. The Ringed Plover. 



throughout 



FIGURE 135. Fggs of the Ringed Plover 



flocks, sometimes numbering over one thousand. 

 Larks and linnets feed in the marshes in great 

 numbers. The gulls, again, are well represented on 

 the beach, though now may be seen an occasional 

 huge glaucous gull. If the winter be a severe one, 

 however, the bird life is swelled by a huge army of 



ducks and geese. 

 Among the former, 

 widgeon, mallard and 

 sheld are the com- 

 moner. Among the 

 latter, brent, pink-feet 

 and barnacles. In the 

 late autumn the swan 

 is not an uncommon 

 sight, while the great 

 northern black- 

 throated divers are of 

 regular occurrence. 



Of the mammals, 

 the rabbits are by far 

 the most numerous. 

 In summer time, when 

 the long evenings 

 draw gently to a close, the Point seems to swarm 

 with them. Old and young are all out then, taking 

 their supper in the marshes or on their moss-grown 

 margins. As you stroll quietly along between these 

 and the dunes, one rabbit after another bolts across 



your path, heading 

 for safety to its 

 burrow. If you turn 

 off now to the side, 

 and make for the 

 marsh, many more 

 bolt past you, till 

 you reach their 

 feeding ground. 

 The first thing that 

 catches your eye is 

 their well - marked 

 runs, reaching right 

 away to where the 

 tide is softly creep- 

 ing up (see Figure 

 137). Everywhere 

 you see Aster tri- 

 polium eaten. Its 

 succulent leaves are 

 not as salt as one 

 might imagine. On 

 the edges the 

 Suaeda bushes are also bitten, in some cases to 

 the ground. Still further in, towards the dunes, 

 Convolvulus soldanella, covering large areas of the 

 firmer ground, is also badly attacked. 



On the crest and seaward side of the dunes are a 

 few burrows, but they are a mere sprinkling com- 

 pared with those on the other side. 



Were it not for numerous tracks, one would at 

 first suppose in winter time that the rabbits had 

 gone, for you see none of them. Day breaks at 



w^^m 



