124 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



well shown by an extract from Mr. C. M. Adamson's book, ' Some 

 more Scraps about Birds ' : — " On the 12th Sept. 1843, I walked 

 from Tynemouth soon after five o'clock a.m. to Hartley Island. 

 There had been a quantity of rain, and it was very misty. On 

 Whitley Sands a young Greenshank ran out from among some 

 seaweed which had been walled up by the tide, and was endea- 

 vouring to fly away when I shot it. I saw some Dunlins on 

 some wet mud, and shot into a flock of them, killing two ; 

 another bird fell wounded, which I followed, and was pleased to 

 find a Little Stint. I afterwards saw six birds, which I thought 

 were Dunlins, feeding in a pool of rain-water high up on the 

 sands, which part is only covered at spring-tides. I killed three 

 of them, and was again pleased to find them Little Stints ; the 

 others settled again amongst Dunlins, when the difference in size 

 was easily to be seen." 



Mr. Duncan has also kindly supplied me with a list of the 

 different species he shot in a single day (Aug. 16th, 1866) at 

 St. Mary's Island :— Sheld-Duck, Teal, Curlew, Whimbrel, 

 Oystercatcher, Ringed Dotterel, Redshank, Knot, Common Tern, 

 Sandwich Tern, Great Black-backed Gull — thirty specimens in 

 all. This is a very large "bag " for such a place as this, and it 

 goes to prove that birds were not uncommon here in former 

 years. Mr. Duncan shot with a single-barrelled muzzle-loader 

 on this occasion, from daylight until nearly dark. 



Yet even in recent years, during very severe weather, num- 

 bers of birds have been seen in a single day. As an example, I 

 will take a spell of very stormy weather which was experienced 

 between Oct. 24th and 28th, 1909. On the 26th my brother 

 observed the following birds : — Ten Golden-eyes, a Great Northern 

 Diver, five Common Skuas, all the commoner Gulls, a Gannet, 

 flocks of Dunlins, Purple Sandpipers and Ringed Plover, several 

 Redshanks, Snow-Buntings, and a Brent Goose. 



I will now proceed to trace the coast-line. A few hundred 

 yards from the mouth of the Tyne the land suddenly takes a 

 sweep inland, forming what is called Percy Bay, at the extremity 

 of which are what are known as the " short sands." On the 

 cliffs above this was formerly situated Willy Dean's cottage, in 

 which Thomas Bewick lodged in 1801. The promontory to the 

 north of this bay is known as Sharpness Point. The coast at 



