The Zoologist — February, 1871. 2455 



running on and feeding in advance, to keep just out of range; but occa- 

 sionally I surprised a solitary bird by the edge of the mussel-scalp, or when 

 too busily engaged -with the last bit of sea- weed thrown up by the waves. 

 At high water, however, in small flocks of from five or six to about double 

 that number, they were much more accessible, and the raised banks of 

 shingle, or the sand hills beyond, afforded means of approach. Their 

 actions when feeding are exceedingly pretty, occasionally raising their wings 

 over the back like golden plover, without attempting to fly, running and 

 stopping with quick nervous steps, and apparently travelling with as much 

 ease over the large shingle as over the smooth sands. "When disturbed by 

 the water's edge, they invariably flew out to sea, uttering their shrill and 

 pleasing cry on the wing, and ckcliug round would alight again on the beach 

 some hundred yards further on. At such times, however, lilie the ringed 

 plover, their most favourite place of resort was the margin of that tidal basin 

 at Holme, to which I have before alluded, which, though at flood-tide 

 presenting a wide sheet of water, has a swampy marsh at one end, covered 

 with coarse grasses, glasswort {Salicornia herbacea), locally called samphire, 

 and other marine vegetation. Here, when scattered amongst the rank 

 herbage, and not seen at times till they rose, I obtained most of my speci- 

 mens."— P. 120. 



I cannot resist the temptation to quote a passage about that 

 great favourite of mine the oystercatcher : what ornilbologist 

 would not be enamoured of a scene like this ? 



"At Hunstanton, on the 16th of May, 1863, I counted over a hundred 

 in a flock at low water, busily feeding at the edge of the great mussel-scalp. 

 From the flatness of the shore it was impossible to approach them within 

 shot, wary as they always are when in large bodies, and the tide had already 

 fallen so low that I question if even a Breydon punt could have been worked 

 up wuthin range for a big gun. Thus, fortunately for them, and I think 

 equally so for myself, I was obliged to be content with watching them 

 through my glass, and they certainly presented one of the most animated 

 groups of feathered life I ever witnessed, from their varied attitudes, sharply 

 contrasting coloui-s and loud ringing cries. They all disappeared when the 

 tide rose, and from that time only a few were seen at different times 

 until the 4th of June, when I again saw a flock of over sixty, but, like the 

 former number they were no doubt migrants, resting for a while on their 

 passage northwards, and were all gone on the following day," — P. 1^3. 



The curlew affords our author the opportunity of making a very 

 effective pen and ink sketch. The stay-at-bouie naturalist, the 

 " cockney writing in the garret," be who is bound by ties of duty 



