BREYDON IN SPRINGTIME 91 



Throw this sack over your shoulders and lie down on the 

 punt floor. 



Some whimbrel, advance guard of the swarm that come here 

 to court and pair off in May, have been watching our 

 manoeuvres ; but becoming reassured, begin to feed again 

 on the far edge of the flat, and soon after to hunt on the 

 drier part of it. The whimbrel likes to pick about with dry 

 legs, and no doubt falls in with much that the more moisture- 

 loving species miss. I have seen these " Lumps " quite lively 

 with spiders I should say Sycosidce ; few birds will pass them 

 without sampling them. And then there are thousands of 

 Hydrobia ulvce, those winkle-like molluscs which swarm in the 

 finer months on every "grass" blade, on either side when 

 floating vertically, and beneath when prostrate on the ebb. 

 Winkles, too, are plentiful, as are the most juvenile of shore- 

 crabs. The whimbrel's gullet is not a large one, but these can 

 all easily be swallowed ; and I have a very strong suspicion 

 that, failing to digest these shells of Littorina, the whimbrel 

 and many other waders vomit them as owls do fur. I would 

 like to know whence, but for such " ejectments," come all the 

 empty shells which are eddied together at the "stone" 

 corners, making in time quite miniature crag formations ! 

 The whimbrel is a noisy fellow, and one bird " titterells " to 

 another, so they pass on the watchword, or their compliments, 

 right away to those feeding a mile away. See ! some curlews 

 have joined them, and are beginning to thrust in their long 

 bills, right to the hilt at times, in their searchings for small 

 clams (Mya arenarid), and the dwarfed cockles that sparsely 

 neighbour with them. The curlew, nervous and suspicious, 

 often amuses me by the way he jumps at the squirting of a 

 startled clam as it draws in its siphon. The larger molluscs 

 throw up quite a respectable jet ; and if you keep your eye 

 on the softer mud you will see this process going on re- 

 peatedly. You can see, too, even from the boat their holes 

 in the mud, varying in size from pin-pricks to those large 

 enough to insert your finger in. Drive in your hand curlew's 

 bill-length, and you may feel the hard shell of the clam reposing 

 edge-ways up. Nothing but a hooded crow would thank you 

 for one of those larger, vile-tasted molluscs. 



These crows, by the way, are not all gone ; a few, dotted 

 here and there, are still to be seen picking up a precarious 



