244 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
On the 25th the Cuckoo was calling vigorously at Kirkby, and was 
followed on the 29th by the Landrail, the latter being unusually 
abundant last summer in this district. During the last week in 
April considerable interest was created by a Blackbird which 
frequented a wood about four miles from Barrow, and which was 
in the habit of amusing itself and all who heard it by imitating, 
with amazing accuracy, the crowing of a bantam cock. 
Paying a visit to Walney Island on May 10th, I found the 
sandhills at the south end well occupied by their summer tenants. 
The Black-headed Gulls, a fresh colony of which was established 
this spring, had just commenced Jaying, as had also two or three 
pairs of Oystercatchers, whilst the Ringed Plovers had been already 
sitting for some time. Stock Doves were more plentiful than 
usual, and one had that morning been captured by the watcher 
on its nest ina rabbit-hole. Altogether I counted six or seven 
pairs on this occasion, and found three nests, two of which were 
quite out of reach. About a dozen Sheldrakes were hanging 
about the warren and adjoining shore, but I could not ascertain 
whether they had yet laid. On May 17th I again visited the island, 
which I need scarcely remark possesses an irresistible attraction 
for the ornithologist, and had the pleasure of finding, by the 
merest chance, a Sheldrake’s nest containing sixteen eggs. I was 
attracted to the hole by a white feather lying on the sand, and found 
the nest within three feet of the entrance, the eggs being deposited 
in a most delicious bed of down. As the old birds were flying 
round in a state of great anxiety, I did not stop long in the locality. 
I was rather surprised to-day at observing a flock of not less than 
three hundred Oystercatchers standing together on a sandbank, 
and taking apparently no interest in their companions, which 
were engaged in nidification close by. Dunlins, in full summer 
plumage, were also fairly common. At the same time, amongst 
the numerous Terns which were wheeling about overhead, and 
which had not yet laid, I was glad to be able to distinguish at 
least three pairs of Sandwich Terns (Sterna cantiaca), a species 
which hitherto has not been known to breed at this end of the 
island, but a colony of which exists at the north end, about six 
miles distant. It was not, however, until the following Saturday 
(May 25th) that I was shown two nests of this bird, each con- 
taining a couple of eggs, which had been first discovered by some 
boys from a neighbouring farm. The name given by the watcher 
