42 G CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 



Spurn has produced an enormous number of rare forms at one time or another. Birds 

 arriving in this country in the spring migration, or departing from it in the autumn, 

 assemble at Spurn. 



The lighthouse is an attraction — a powerful lightat night seems to have a fascination 

 for birds of passage, some even dashing themselves against the glass in their anxiety 

 to get near the light, many being killed in this way. In recent years, however, through 

 the efforts of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the lighthouse has had 

 placed upon it a number of perches upon which the birds can rest. 



Unfortunately, during the war, many drastic changes had to be made in this 

 otherwise secluded region, and species which ordinarily bred there in great numbers 

 were disturbed, and in some instances disappeared. However, the district is still 

 one of the few breeding colonies of the beautiful Sea-Swallow, or Lesser Tern, the 

 Ringed Dotterel, and other rare birds, while occasionally the Oyster-Catcher and 

 s imi lar interesting forms are known to nest here. 



Formerly, great destruction occurred among the eggs by trippers from Grimsby 

 and other places, who deliberately threw them about or threw stones at them, and in 

 addition harm was done by indiscriminate collectors who gathered the eggs in large 

 numbers for sale. Now the watcher does his best to prevent this destruction, and the 

 eggs are marked with indelible ink, so that they cannot very well be sold. 



Probably in no part of England is the question of protective coloration, as applied 

 to both birds and their eggs, so pronounced as on the Spurn Peninsula. I have seen 

 within a small area twenty or thirty different clutches of eggs of the Lesser Tern, and 

 yet a stranger unfamiliar with the eggs would probably not see one; in fact, I have 

 been with parties when members have actually stepped upon the eggs before realising 

 what they were doing. The bird does not make any nest, as usually known, but 

 merely scoops a slight hollow in the sand. 



But an even more striking example occurs in the young birds themselves. So 

 soon as they are hatched they resemble little balls of fluff, again spotted and streaked 

 like sand. The last time I was at Spurn I walked along the sands to the Point, and 

 I pointed out a single chick of a Lesser Tern to a friend. This was running about 

 on the sands some distance away, but on a warning note from the parent birds flying 

 above it immediately flattened itself at full length and remained absolutely motion- 

 less. My friend could not see it. We walked slowly towards it. I very quietly 

 stooped down and picked the bird up in my hand, it making no attempt to get away. 

 It was, of course, immediately released, and we left it to be joined by its parents. 



Quite apart from the ordinary species which one meets with in a place of this 

 character, occasional rare forms arrive, even Flamingoes, Great Bustards and other 

 semi-tropical birds being recorded, and, I much regret to say, frequently have been 

 shot. However, in recent years, there has been a great change among naturalists 

 with regard to our wild birds. Formerly a naturalist was more after the manner of 

 a collector, and delighted in surrounding his walls with all the rare species he could 

 possibly shoot. To-day he takes more interest in watching the birds through a 

 telescope, or in photographing them. 



Hornsea Mere. 



With the help of the owner of the Mere, and a paid watcher, the interesting species 

 of birds breeding in this vicinity are not showing any decrease. There is a heronry 

 at the Mere, and the herons can often be seen perched on stumps round the water 

 keeping a look-out for the fish upon which they live. The Mere is generally known 

 to ornithologists, however, as the breeding ground of the Great Crested Grebe, a 

 species which only has a few breeding grounds in the British Isles. Other Grebes, 

 various forms of ducks, etc., occur, and the woods surrounding the Mere shelter an 

 enormous number of our most interesting songsters. While water-bird life is common, 

 the birds of prey — the Owls, Hawks, Buzzards, etc. — also are present. 



Among the other interesting visitors to Hornsea Mere may be mentioned the 

 Cormorant (a species which for many years nested on the wreck of the Beaconsfield, 

 a ship which was stranded off the shore at Aldbrough) ; Purple Heron, Bittern, 

 Glossy Ibis, Golden Eye, Spotted Crake, Stone Curlew, and others. 



Hornsea Mere is the last of many meres and marshes which once existed in East 

 Yorkshire, and doubtless at one time gave it the appearance of the Norfolk Broads, 

 which are so well known for the quantity of birds living there to-day. One of the 

 most beautiful and interesting of the birds of Norfolk is the Bearded Titmouse, a 

 species which builds its nest among the reeds, the male bird having curious dark 



