820 Birds. 



Birds at Spern Head. By J. J. Briggs, Esq. 



Spern Head lies at the southern extremity of the East Riding of 

 Yorkshire, and is a narrow neck or tongue of land, running down to 

 the point where the river Humber falls into the German Ocean. 

 This piece of land, at six miles from the point, is about four miles in 

 breadth, and of a stiff, marly soil, which grows good wheat and beans, 

 but almost without tree or shrub, and the hedges are low, decayed and 

 stunted in growth. When you pass the village of Kilnsey (the last 

 nearest the point), the neck becomes gradually narrower, until, at its 

 termination, it is not more than one hundred yards in width, that is, 

 between the sea and the Humber. Here the land assumes a desolate 

 appearance. The sand of the shore has been drifted by high winds 

 into large heaps, and these are covered with coarse herbage and rank 

 grass, but the surface abounds with curious wild plants. The scene 

 is singularly striking. On the one hand stretches a boundless ocean, 

 covered with ships and cobbles, with the waves rolling at your feet ; 

 and on the other, the magnificent river Humber, with its curiously 

 ribbed sands, and still waters dotted over with vessels ; whilst the 

 ground upon which you tread is like an arid waste, its dreary surface 

 only enlivened by sea-fowl and plover, which start from their haunts 

 in amazement at your approach. Such is the general character of 

 the district to which the following notes refer. 



Amongst the beautiful fowls inhabiting this region, is the sheldrake, 

 a prettily plumaged duck, which frequents the sea-shores, and lives 

 on shell-fish, and probably on a large thick worm, which is found 

 working its casts in the sand. This bird breeds in June, and makes 

 no nest, but deposits her eggs in rabbits' holes on Kilnsey warren. 

 The eggs are sometimes dug out and hatched under a domestic hen ; 

 when this is the case, the birds generally thrive well, and trail after 

 their adopted mother as ducklings after their dam. They run with 

 facility, and when disturbed, utter a pleasing musical whistle. The 

 bird lays nine or ten eggs. 



Another interesting inhabitant of these shores is the ringed plover, 

 which runs at race-horse speed; and the manner in which they tra- 

 verse the ribbed as well as the smooth sands, is well worthy of obser- 

 vation. They are elegant in their manners, and occasionally give 

 utterance to a clear whistle, which almost seems musical amidst the 

 Loneliness of their haunts. Their nest is deposited on the ground, 

 amongst the long tufts of grass, or "bents" as they are called, and 



