4 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
too late for the eggs; the young were already in the nest by the 
middle of June. 
The migratory flocks do not, as a rule, arrive on our English 
coast before the end of October or early in November. Their 
abundance or otherwise seems partly regulated by the character 
of the season. In mild winters we have few, but in severe winters 
they are often very abundant, single flocks alone containing many 
thousands. By the middle of October I have generally found a 
few beautiful old males* on the Holderness coast. The high cliffs 
north of Easington, as well as those lower ones near Kilnsea, and 
Spurn Point itself, are very favourite haunts of the Snow Bunting 
on its first coming. t 
Dimlington “highland,” some miles north of Spurn, at its 
greatest height is 146 feet.{ ‘The perishable nature of these cliffs, 
as well as the rapid and increasing encroachments of the North 
Sea, are here clearly demonstrated. From a few feet below the 
summit the cliff slopes away in an enormous talus—a mass of 
piled-up ruin, cast down under the combined influences of frost 
and rain. Great masses from the top, many yards in width, are 
constantly slipping seawards and adding to the ruin. Here in 
October I have sometimes seen a solitary Snow Bunting which has 
come in long before his fellows, flitting from one point to another 
of the broken cliff—beautiful old birds, in that lovely transitional 
* These solitary birds arriving before the regular migration are invariably 
old males, and any early-killed Snow Bunting recorded may, without doubt, 
be put down as an old male. In Heligoland Mr. Giitke remarks, ‘‘ Snow 
Buntings turn up here occasionally as early as the latter half of August, but 
these are invariably young.” 
+ If the number of Snow Buntings appearing on our east coast is to be 
taken as an indication of a severe winter, this of 1880-81 should be a severe 
one. To-day (November 24th) I have seen an immense number, thousands 
and thousands, on stubble and grass alike; all appear to be young birds of 
the year and females, not half-a-dozen old males. 
| Dimlington heights are the most prominent land on approaching the 
otherwise flat shores of the Humber, and naturally attract migrants on 
their first arrival. They are a favourite resting-place of the Rough-legged 
Buzzard and other large Raptores in their wanderings. Prof. Phillips (‘ Rivers, 
Mountains, and Sea-coast of Yorkshire’) calculates the annual waste of the 
Holderness coast from Spurn to Flamborough as equal to 2} yards per year 
along its entire length, so that one mile in breadth has been lost since the 
Norman Conquest, two miles since the Roman Invasion. My own experience 
would now put the annual waste at much more than this, especially for some 
miles north of Spurn. 
