110 BIRDS OF THE HUMBER DISTRICT. 



mer season visiting the neighbourhood of the Hum- 

 ber during the first week in May with great regu- 

 larity and often in very large flocks, numbering oc- 

 casionally as high as two hundred birds *. They leave 

 again for their northern breeding-stations in the third 

 or fourth week in that month, a few as late as the 

 first week in June ; and as I have seen them off the 

 coast again in July, they may be said never to be en- 

 tirely absent in any month. Whimbrels chiefly resort 

 during the time they remain with us to the pasture 

 lands in the marshes ; and in this respect their habits 

 differ widely from the Curlew, which is almost exclu- 

 sively at this season a shore bird. Their food consists 

 of worms, coleoptera, and various insects ; and on the 

 " flats " they pick up small crustaceans from the tidal 

 pools. They are very partial to washing and bathing ; 

 coming down to the tide edge each day, and wading 

 out breast-deep, they scatter the water with their 

 wings in sparkling showers over their backs and body. 

 After the bath they stand on the foreshore gently 

 fanning their wings to and fro, or preening and 

 arranging their plumage. 



Whimbrels are far less circumspect than the Cur- 

 lew, and with a little care and caution may easily be 

 approached within gunshot. 



* I have seen small flocks in April on the flats, and on one 

 occasion as early as the first week in that month. The earliest 

 arrivals never remain long, probably going forward to some 

 more northern station. The main body arrive, almost to a day, 

 from the 1st to the 3rd of May. 



