Wanderings of a Naturalist 



and here were a few gulls with several pairs of shelduck near 

 them, and a couple of herons stalking sedately on the ooze. 

 A flock of bar-tailed godwits Arctic nesting birds and so 

 late in leaving our shores flew uncertainly hither and thither, 

 being apparently strangers recently arrived on this part of the 

 coast and pausing awhile on their northward flight. With 

 them, as is nearly always the case, were three or four knot. 

 By now the wind had increased and blew strong from the 

 west, and as we crossed the stretch of sea lying between that 

 part of the mainland known as the Beacons and Lindisfarne 

 or Holy Island, the flood-tide, running in against the wind, 

 was sending "white horses" dancing across the bay. 



That evening, in the shelter of Lindisfarne Castle, I lay 

 awhile, watching through the glass the interesting and varied 

 bird-life that thronged the island and its waters. On the 

 emerald-green grass just above high tide a couple of ringed 

 plover were feeding, and with them a dunlin, handsome in 

 full breeding plumage, his jet-black breast contrasting strik- 

 ingly with the grass on which he was searching for his 

 supper. 



Solan geese, gliding on sturdy wings, were making their 

 way singly from the Bass Rock to their fishing grounds, 

 flying close inshore and banking steeply and most gracefully 

 with the true poetry of flight as a squall of wind struck them. 

 Sandwich terns already frequented the estuary in some 

 numbers, although they must have been hard put to it to 

 make a living out of the few sand-eels which were as yet 

 appearing on the surface waters. That season the sandwich 

 tern arrived off Lindisfarne earlier than the fishermen had 

 ever known, the first bird being seen on March 24. Out to 

 sea a small flock of scoters were being drenched with spray 

 every second or so, but seemed to be indifferent to this 

 discomfort, though when a larger wave than usual was about 

 to break upon them they dived simultaneously to escape it. 

 On the rocks covered with sea wrack were feeding numbers 

 of turnstones, some of the birds in almost full breeding 



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