BIRDS OP THE HUMBER DISTRICT. 89 



with the Lapwings, for the higher lands and " Wolds/' 

 feeding in the partly cleared turnip- walks. They 

 very rarely, and only then in very dry autumns, resort 

 to the muds ; and I have never seen them on the 

 Humber flats after the marshes have become saturated 

 with wet. In mild and open winters they will remain 

 with us throughout the season, often in enormous 

 flocks, but in severe seasons, with long-continued 

 frost and snow, leave the district altogether, return- 

 ing only on the break-up of the storm. These local 

 migrations of the Golden Plover are very remarkable. 

 I have frequently noticed a day or two previous to 

 hard weather immense flocks crossing the Humber, 

 often for hours together, all going southward. They 

 are followed after the first frost by our local birds. 

 On the occurrence of a thaw, as soon as the lowlands 

 have become even partially clear, their familiar call 

 may again be heard. Besides these local migrations, 

 dependent on the weather, there are similar move- 

 ments due to other causes, the chief of which is pro- 

 bably a permanent change of feeding-ground. On 

 the 22nd of November, 1866, from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M., 

 likewise on the llth of the same month, 1869, from 

 early morning till late in the afternoon, flocks of 

 Golden Plovers and Lapwings, flying from S. to N., 

 passed over this parish ; often two or three flocks were 

 in sight at one time, and it was seldom that there was 

 five minutes' interval between them*. 



* See 'Zoologist' for 1867, p. 590; also for 1870 p. 1978. 



