Birds. . 9651 



Whimhrel.—The%e birds prefer feeding, at this season, in the grass 

 marshes and corn lands to the deqj ooze of the Hnraber shores. 

 Although some few maj generally be found during this month on the 

 fore shore, yet by far the greater number resort during the day time to 

 the grass marshes. They have been very numerous during the month 

 in this neighbourhood, but have not remained quite so long as usual. 

 In a walk extending over many miles along the Humber bank, on the 

 24th of May, I only saw four of these birds, where a kw days previously 

 I had seen large flocks. 



Dunlin.— Akex an absence of nearly a month the dunlins have 

 returned in great numbers. On the I. 3th I saw immense flocks of 

 them ; hundreds packed together were flying backwards and forwards 

 oyer the fore shore— a most unusual sight at this season of the year, 

 giving the coast all the appearance of a winter's scene. I also ob- 

 served the same day unusually large flocks of sand plovers, whimbrels 

 and ringed dotterells on the flats. During nearly the whole of this 

 month dunlins have been very numerous; by the 13th they appeared 

 to have fully acquired the summer plumage. 



Ringed Dotterell or Ringed P/orer.— Observed during the last fort- 

 night several small flocks of ringed plovers on tlie coast ; they are 

 sociable birds, feeding in company with other species frequenting the 

 coast. 



Bartailed G'of^^£;^7.— Unusually scarce ; I have only seen one small 

 flock (May 24th) feeding on the fore shore, in company with whim- 

 brels, dunlins and gray plovers. 



Blnckheaded Gull. — These gulls are far more commonly met with 

 than any of the other species frequenting the Humber. At this season 

 of the year they are absent at their inland breeding-placss. There is 

 a famous breeding-place in this county on Sir John Nelthorpe's estate, 

 near Brigg ; and another in Yorkshire, at Hornsea Mere. I have seen 

 two or three old birds flying about the great drains in the marsh 

 district during the last week in the month. 



Scaup Duck.— On the 24th, when walking with a friend along the 

 Humber embankment late in the afternoon, at which time the tide was 

 washing the foot of the bank, we observed a solitary scaup swimming 

 close in shore : it proved to be an old male in full plumage. We had 

 a long look at the bird, which was busily feeding about" thirty yards 

 from the foot of the embankment, constantly diving, and each time, on 

 the average, remaining under water for twenty-five or twenty-six 

 seconds. What was this old male scaup doing in the Humber so late 

 in the season, long after the departure of its comrades for their northern 



