Peicli : Notes on Holdcrncss Birds. 43 



Mere on 21st June 1899 ; but Stint and Curlew may be seen on 

 the Humber flats all the summer, thoug"h the majority g-ather 

 into large flocks in April, and after a few days' practice in the 

 estuary, leave us till the autumn. What is apparently the 

 smoke o'i a steamer trails across the Spurn flats many miles 

 away in the teeth of the wind in a manner quite opposed to all 

 the laws of aerostatics ; suddenh' it bends, vanishes for an 

 instant as the white breasts of its thousands of Stint turn 

 towards the sun, and then reappears to perform the same 

 evolutions, until the observer tires of watching'. 



The returning^ tide sets in in July ; small parties o'i Knot 

 (17th July 1899) and Golden Plover (28th July 1894) are then 

 seen at Aldboroug"h, and soon afterwards the Common Sand- 

 piper reappears along- our drains, and the Whimbrel along- the 

 coast, accompanied by the Turnstone, Godvvit, and Stint. 

 Kingfishers are then common on the drains and creeks, and 

 Herons, young- birds from inland heronries, are seen in flocks of 

 a dozen on the mud. In recent years the Green Sandpiper has 

 visited us in larg^e numbers in Aug-ust and September, and 

 several have been broug-ht for identification ; they are known 

 on Cherry Cob Sands as ' White Rumps,' the most local bird- 

 name I have yet met with, for I believe its use is restricted to 

 the members of one family. Later, Grey Plover are seen, but 

 they, like the Knot, generally remain in the neig-hbourhood of 

 Spurn, thoug-h a largfe flock was seen at Bilton, 21st December 

 1900. Among-st the accidental visitors I have met are the 

 Great Snipe (Cherry Cob Sands, 23rd Aug-ust 1901), the Grey 

 Phalarope (shot at a horse-pond, Aldboroug-h, November 1894), 

 the Curlew Sandpiper (Saltend, 23rd April 1898), and the Green- 

 shank (Saltend, 15th Aug-ust 1900). 



In the winter, when the Lambwath stream overflows the 

 meadows on either side, the inland sea which extends from 

 Marton almost to Aldborough is a favourite resort of ducks 

 and waders. 'Fleeting' is then assiduously pursued by the 

 local sportsnien, who, crouching on the banks which alone 

 remain to show the farmer the limits of his fields, shoot the 

 duck as they come inland at dusk to feed. Rat-traps, baited 

 with corn and placed at the water's edge, account for many 

 more. W'igeon, Mallard, and Teal form the majority, with 

 sonietimes Pochard (December 1899) and Shoveller (December 

 1901), and occasionally a Goose or Swan. Eleven Swans fre- 

 quented this locality last winter, and six were shot before 

 January, but I have not been able to trace them. I saw the 



1903 February i. 



