4lO THE ZOOLOGIST. 



wings flashing into sight, and as quickly vanishing. Numerous 

 Grey Plover in their winter plumage, and also some Godwits, a 

 few very fine red birds amongst them. Here and there restless 

 Curlews flying off on the slightest intimation of being observed, 

 with that long-drawn bubbling or quivering cry which is un- 

 doubtedly one of alarm and disapprobation. But by far the 

 most interesting to watch were those little arctic wanderers, the 

 Knots, all intently feeding and very closely grouped together ; 

 these were chiefly grey birds in winter dress, some in transition, 

 more or less mottled with dull red underneath, and a few — 

 perhaps one in thirty — most handsome birds in full plumage, 

 with bright chestnut under parts, as deep in colour as figured in 

 the excellent plate of this species given in Lord Lilford's 

 1 Illustrations,' part xii. It was easy to picture them, in a few 

 weeks from this date, haunting the margin of some inland pool, 

 with surroundings of grey rock and shingle, and the low-growing 

 arctic vegetation of lands as yet untrodden by man within the 

 mystic circle of the Polar Seas. 



Considering the countless thousands of Knots to be seen in 

 the autumn and winter on the immense expanses of the Lincoln- 

 shire coast, comparatively few are obtained, the open, and often 

 quite unapproachable, character of their haunts on low sand- 

 banks fringing the coast affording almost complete immunity 

 from disturbance. I have seen a yellow ridge of sand so crowded 

 as rather to resemble in colour a mud- bank. Men speak of 

 closely-packed Knots as covering acres on the ooze. A coast- 

 gunner described a flock he had seen on the wing beyond Tetney 

 Haven as one hundred and fifty yards long, thirty in width, and 

 four yards deep, and so dense that he could nowhere see through 

 them. 



But to return once more to the Humber flats. Here and 

 there along the coast for two miles were many small parties of 

 Grey Crows, as if collected for departure. On the 18th I passed 

 over the same ground, and, with the exception of a very few 

 Dunlin, the whole of the vast concourse seen on the 11th, 

 including the Crows, had gone ; not a solitary bird was left. 

 The only fresh arrival observed was a noisy flock of Fieldfares. 

 On the 11th, also, I was pleased to see several Goldcrests, and 

 others had been seen near Spurn on the 10th, no doubt on their 

 spring migration. The first Swallow was seen on the 12th, several 



