318 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Humber, is an isolated spit of land, bordered on one side 

 by the North Sea and on the other by the vast mud- 

 flats of the Humber. It has been a happy hunting 

 ground of mine for many years, in autumn and winter, 

 wild-fowling along the river and coast and in the 

 marshes, and spending nights in the lighthouse to view 

 the enormous flocks of birds that pass on migration, and 

 in the summer watching and photographing the Little 

 Terns and other birds that breed there. 



The Little Terns have bred there as long as living 



Fig. 1. — The Eggs in a Slight Scoop on Fine Sand. 

 {Photographed by Oxley Grabham.) 



memory goes back, and doubtless for a great many years 

 before ; but a decade or so ago the birds were in danger 

 of extinction owing to the raids made upon them by 

 collectors, and also owing to the thoughtlessness of 

 excursionists who used to pick up the eggs and throw 

 them at one another for fun ! ! We did not mind anyone 

 taking a clutch of eggs for scientific purposes, but this 

 sort of thing was too much, and so a few of us, with Mr. W. 

 H. St. Quintin, of Scampston, at our head (than whom no 

 one living has done more to preserve the birds of our 



