INTKODUCTlOIs-. XI 



IS'ewcastle poulterers for sale. Various species of Ducks aud 

 "Waders occur in abundance ; and many of our rarer visitaMfes have 

 been sbot in this locality, namely, the Gadwall, Red Crested 

 Duck, Pomerine Skua, and several others. 



A " slake" of similar character, but of much less extent, was, 

 until recently, found within the estuaiy of the Tyne. This is 

 now, by the encroachments of man, in great measure destroyed 

 as a resort of wild fowl. But not many years ago ''Jarrow 

 Slake" was frequented by great numbers of aquatic birds. The 

 "Wild Swan was occasionally shot there, and many of the Ducks 

 and "Waders, as well as most of the other birds that frequent 

 the coast. 



But the engineer has more than the destruction of this feeding 

 ground to answer for : the shores of the Tyne, fi'om the '' Slake" 

 almost to N'ewcastle, were admii'ably adapted to the habits of the 

 Sandpipers and other "Waders. The beautiful sweeping reaches, 

 and projecting headlands, that diversified both shores, are rapidly 

 disappearing, and in their place the straight lines of the engineer 

 are being substituted. Those gravelly aud muddy shores, the 

 delight of these birds, are all gone. 



The Cormorant appears to have been formerly very common 

 on the Tyne, and its fishing propensities seem to have rendered 

 it very obnoxious to the Municipal authorities of ]S"ewcastle, as 

 the following extract from the Mimicipal accounts, kindly sup- 

 plied to me by my friend Mr. Clephan, sufficiently testifies. 



" 1561, Nov. Paid for two gormorants heads slayne in this revir, id. 

 1654:, Dec. Paid for three cormorants heads, 2s." 



The estuary of the Tees is another great haunt of the aquatic 

 tribes ; but it is also fast disappearing as such to the demands of 

 commerce. Upwards of two hundred years ago there was a great 

 breeding station here. In Graves's ''History of Cleveland," 

 p. 399, there is a quotation from the Cott. MS., which is as 

 follows : — 



"Neere unto Dobham, (the Porte of the mouth of the Teese) 

 the Shore lyes flatt, where a Shelfe of Sand raised above the 

 highe water marke, entertaines an infynite number of sea-fowle, 

 which laye theyr Egges heere and there scatteringlie in such 



