2456 The Zoologist — February, 1871. 



to his desk or his profession, owes a debt of gratitude to those who 

 will thus make him a sharer in their pleasures, and bring as it were 

 before his very eyes scenes witnessed far, far away. 



"In the spring of 1863 I found them (the curlews) rery plentiful at 

 Hunstanton, though almost unapproachable on those level sands, but their 

 daily visits to the mussel-scalps, with that marvellous punctuality observable 

 in such sjjecies as regularly frequent the sea-coast, proved a constant source 

 of amusement. Scarcely was the thin black line visible above the waves, 

 which marked the outline of a lai'ge submerged mussel-bed, than curlews 

 and sea gulls appeared in the distance, the former in small detachments 

 and in Indian file, slowly flapping over the waters to tlieir expected feast, 

 which their long legs and beaks enabled them to commence on at once, not 

 waiting, like the hovcriug sea-gulls, for a drier surface. First to arrive, 

 they were also the last of their kind to quit their feeding-grounds, seeking 

 the highest spots as the tide rose, and taking wing only when the scalps 

 were barely visible, when, uttering their loud cry of ' cour-lieu, cour-lieu,' a 

 sound, however wild and shrill, not less grateful to the ear on the bleak 

 range of ooze or shingle, than on the scarcely less desolate moorland, — they 

 would betake themselves once more to their inland haunt." — P. 19G. 



Every ornithologist knows how discrepant are the accounts of 

 the nesting of the red.shank. Mr. Stevenson docs full justice to 

 the accounts of other authors, and especially invites attention to 

 the best liitherto published, those by Mr. Thompson, in his ' Birds 

 of Ireland,' and Mr. Legge in the 'Zoologist,' p. 602. How often 

 have I regretted that lliis gentleman's " Oological Notes from 

 South-east Essex " so soon came to a close ; no writer has shown 

 himself to be a better observer, or has recorded his observations 

 with greater fidelity. Nevertheless, Mr. Stevenson has found an 

 opportunity for adding some personal experiences that cannot fail 

 to interest his reader and mine. 



" Time was no object on that bright summer's morning, so that I seated 

 myself glass in hand, prepared to match my patience against their parental 

 soUcitude. Although at a considerable distance, they seemed quite aware of 

 my presence, and with a rapid sweeping flight circled over the marsh, some 

 times soaring high in the air as if about to leave altogether ; at others swooping 

 close to the ground, but never stopping for an instant in any one spot. At 

 length the area of their flight diminished by degrees, though their agitated 

 cries were loud as ever, and first one bird alighted, with a quick short run 

 and vibi-atory motion of the wings and tail ; then another, but far apart, and 

 both stood motionless as a ring dotterel on a ridge of shingle. Presently, 



