24 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



We are yet some way from the sea, but it is still 

 possible to reach the great shingle beach which 

 looms in the distance, and towards this we turn our 

 steps, hoping when we get there to add several 

 fresh species to the list of birds already noted. On 

 our way we unexpectedly come upon some 

 Whimbrel feeding out in the marsh. Not unlike a 

 Curlew, though smaller in size, this bird in Sussex 

 is called "Titterel" from its note, and in Norfolk is 

 known as " Maybird," from the regularity of its 

 appearance in that month, when on its migration 

 northwards to its breeding grounds. In the 

 autumn, when the young birds return in small 

 flocks, they are pretty tame, and may be easily 

 approached or whistled round within gunshot ; but 

 the old birds going north in spring are more wary, 

 and can only be approached by careful stalking. 

 In the present instance we only see and hear enough 

 to enable us to identify the species, and the birds 

 are soon out of sight. 



Just before reaching the sea beach, we note 

 some Curlews feeding out in a marsh amongst the 

 sheep, and they seem pretty tame until we stop to 

 bring our field-glasses upon them, when they 

 hurriedly take wing towards the sea, and are soon 

 lost to view. 



Hardly do we set foot upon the shingle when a 

 pair of Ringed Plovers rise close before us, and by 

 their noisy cries, as they fly round us in circles, 

 seem to intimate that they have eggs near at hand. 

 A somewhat hasty search, however, fails to reveal 

 them, and we leave the Plovers in undisturbed 



