160 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the seaside by a line of sandhills. This dreary uncultivated tract 
of country abounds in rushy pools and peat-bogs, the home of 
Snipe and Duck, where doubtless long ago the “boom” of the 
Bittern was often heard—a sound which, alas! no longer greets 
the wild-fowl shooter as he returns from the evening flight-shooting. 
Some interesting birds breed yearly on this moor, among which may 
be mentioned the Eider Duck, Shieldrake, Curlew, Golden Plover, 
Redshank, Dunlin, and a large colony of Terns. The locality 
therefore must be regarded as a most favourable one from which 
to study the habits of wild birds in their proper haunts. I will 
only add that such notes as I may contribute to ‘The Zoologist’ 
will be penned solely from my own observation. 
On the 2nd September I shot a Greenshank up the Eden: a few 
of these birds are procured every autumn, but only en passant ; 
none seem to remain through the winter. During this month the 
mud-flats at the mouth of the river present a very lively appearance, 
owing to the numerous flocks of various waders which for a time 
pay us a visit en roule for more southern shores. Among others 
I noticed several flocks of Bartailed Godwits and Gray Plovers; 
one of the latter which I shot—evidently a young bird of the year— 
was so much marked on the back with a light shade of yellow that 
I took it for a young Golden Plover, and it was not until I got home 
that, by the presence of the hind toe, I detected the species. The 
first wild geese seen this autumn were observed flying over the 
links on September 26th. 
Early in October a great number of Gannets were fishing in the 
bay, mostly young birds of the year, doubtless from the Bass Rock, 
which is but a short distance off. On the 7th a Red-breasted 
Merganser was shot. Enormous flocks of Plovers, both Green and 
Golden, breed on the hills inland, and frequent the mud-flats at 
low tide and the adjoining fields at high tide during the autumn, 
but leave us towards the end of October, a small number only 
remaining throughout the winter. Several Knots killed out of 
a large flock on the 16th retained traces of the summer 
plumage: in some specimens the whole of the breast was 
suffused with a light buff-colour; these are doubtless young birds 
of the year. 
Returning home at dusk from shore-shooting on October 18th, 
two small waders rose close to me, and began wheeling round, 
uttering a plaintive but pleasing note with which I was not familiar, 
