164 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



do not intend to stay they seem compelled to drop within 

 hail of their fellows ; then away they go. It was not until 

 the third attempt, and when they opened fan-like, that I could 

 accurately count them. So large a bunch in August was 

 rather uncommon. We see more of them here in May. 



Dunlins in small flocks, with which were associating a few 

 ringed plovers and two or three curlew-sandpipers, fussed 

 around, changing their feeding-grounds. Some of the dun- 

 lins still retained much of the garb of summer, but they 

 were mostly birds of the year. A little way off were a few 

 redshanks, a solitary grey plover, and a greenshank sticking 

 his stiff bill under the wrack, "job-jobbing"" at the Gam- 

 maridcE, that scuttled away with almost the alacrity of sand- 

 hoppers. 



There was a stranger about that day ; I could not for the 

 life of me make out what bird it was that produced that 

 queer cry. The note was easily distinguishable, whether 

 uttered alone or in chorus with other birds. What to liken 

 it to I am at a loss to suggest. It is high-pitched ; it is too 

 loud for a Temminck's stint; it is not musical like a plover's; 

 it is a triplicate note after the style of a greenshank's ; but 

 differs from all I know. I heard it in those dark nights of 

 boyhood rarely, I will admit but the note always troubled 

 me, as it does to-day. I would give anything to know its 

 author, but then the novelty would be gone. There it was 

 again ! I scanned every bird within range, but to no pur- 

 pose. I was just as puzzled for a long time by a bullfinch 

 that whistled in hiding; the charm was gone when I detected 

 the fellow. 1 



A black-headed gull had discovered a finger-thick eel. 

 How the fish, seemingly knowing its danger, wriggled ! How 

 the bird, unmistakably excited, shook and pinched and ran 

 about with it! It was not many moments ere another black- 

 head espied it, and gave chase. I followed the twain with 

 my telescope, and they alighted and squabbled at the rond- 

 edge near " Stone Corner." Flying, pursuing, shaking, dodg- 

 ing, the two birds settled again, and the original possessor 

 still held its own. Now he had half-swallowed it, when the 



1 I have since been inclined to think this bird was a godwit : as I have 

 observed (as in the case of the curlew), that birds vary their cries under certain 

 conditions, and I can quite believe this cry to be the migration note used by 

 solitary birds of this species. 



