172 THE NORTHUMBERLAND COAST IN SEPTEMBER 



as they quarrelled with one another over their food. As they 

 rose to change their feeding ground or bathing pool the 

 clangour increased. Parties of Gulls were continually arriving 

 from inland forays, and came sailing down on beautiful grey 

 and white pinions to join their companions on the shore. 

 The weird cry of the Curlew, as it rose and swept with out- 

 stretched wings low over the mud, recalled to our minds 

 the heather moors and the grass-clad slopes of " Cheviot's 

 mountain lone," where we had heard that same note in the 

 spring time. The shrill note of the Redshank was very 

 distinctive : this too nearly always uttered when the bird was 

 on the wing. 



A careful examination of the darker mud-banks further out 

 disclosed a large number of greyish birds standing in a 

 scattered group, hardly visible to the eye because of their 

 sombre colouring. These were Knots, countless hosts of 

 which visit our North-East Coast in autumn and winter. 

 While we watched them, the whole flock, quite one hundred 

 strong, suddenly took alarm, and rising from the mud swept 

 up towards us. As they came we could hear the "swishing" 

 sound made by their many wings. They approached near 

 enough for us to distinguish with the glass some details of 

 their plumage, then suddenly, turning as one bird, they swept 

 out towards the sea. On the wing they may be distinguished 

 from Redshanks, which they resemble in size, by the absence 

 of the red legs and feet, and by the much lighter colouring of 

 their backs and wings. The Redshank on the wing, when 

 looked at from above, is very dark brown and white, while the 

 Knot is grey and white. Viewed from below the Knot is 

 greyish-white right up to the chin — thus distinguishable from 

 the Turnstone, which has dark markings on throat and upper 

 breast. These points are important to observe, as the flight 

 of all these waders is so rapid that smaller details of plumage 

 are not discernible. 



The road now climbs to a higher elevation, and we followed 

 it for a short distance in order to get a better point of vantage 

 from which to view the wide expanse of exposed mud in the 



