112 



of wild fowl, that a gunner who is a stranger to 

 them is certain to approach and fire, and many a 

 charge have my poor decoys received. 



On one occasion on Breydon mudflats three 

 men in one boat cautiously worked up to what they 

 considered a fair distance (about twenty yards), 

 and all aiming together with the greatest care fired 

 a volley of six barrels into the thick of the devoted 

 " dummies." Two of them had already loaded and 

 fired again, when a large black hairy quadruped 

 called by his master, I suppose, a retriever dashed 

 from the boat and charged into the centre of the 

 supposed game. Then perceiving that the sagacious 

 animal did not commence to shake and worry th'e 

 birds (which operation I had previously watched 

 him successfully perform on a wounded Dunlin, to 

 the evident delight of his owner), the sportsmen 

 appeared to comprehend the state of affairs, and 

 beat a speedy retreat. 



The Knot seems a particularly sociable bird, 

 joining in company with nearly every other species 

 of wader. I remember one autumn on Breydon 

 that besides above thirty Knots I obtained at one 

 discharge of the punt gun specimens in larger or 

 smaller numbers of the following species : Run , 

 Redshank, Pigmy curlew, Dunlin, Stint, Green- 

 shank, Spotted Redshank and Golden Plover. 

 They also commonly associate with the Godwit, 

 Grey Plover and Turnstone. 



The specimens in the case were shot on 

 Breydon in August, 1872. 



BAR-TAILED GODWIT. (AUTUMN). 

 Case 151. 



This case represents the young as they appear 

 on their first arrival in this country from their 

 breeding grounds in the far north. 



Like the greater part of the birds that are 

 reared in those deserted regions they are of a most 



