Birds. 235 



and so, at this particular time, they are seen in flocks ; but immedi- 

 ately the receding tide permits them to return to their search after 

 food, they disperse. In the winter months, during the time of low 

 water, you seldom see so many as half-a-dozen in company : in the 

 autumn there is a slight deviation from this habit : I have seen them 

 at that time of the year spring from their feeding-ground in lots of 

 fifteen or twenty, and have known two or more killed at once by 

 shooting among them. 



Their food I take to be marine insects, shrimps, small fry, &c., with 

 the worms which may chance to lie exposed. I have never seen any 

 traces of either digging or boring left by them. I do not, however, 

 mean to assert that they never do bore. 



When suddenly alarmed, their flight at its commencement is very 

 irregular and tortuous, but soon becomes tolerably steady. It is 

 rapid, but rarely protracted. 



Their cry is loud and shrill, and may consequently be heard at a 

 great distance, and I think may, without much aid from imagination, 

 be denominated expressive. At times it is plaintively querulous, but 

 more generally, if I may so express myself, objurgatory and scolding. 

 From their habit of making a great outcry when disturbed, they are 

 not great favorites with the gunners or wild fowl shooters, who, during 

 the winter, are numerous on the coasts I have named. 



Towards the end of May and in June they are very busily engaged 

 in the work of propagation ; and, at this time, though particularly 

 vigilant and suspicious at the approach of man or dog (particularly 

 the latter) to the place in which their eggs are deposited, they do not 

 venture very near the cause of alarm if it be a man, though they 

 jealously watch all his movements as long as he remains near their 

 haunts. On his first showing himself, perhaps only a single bird is 

 seen, who comes rapidly towards him, ceaselessly uttering her com- 

 plaining note : in a few seconds another and another come up, and 

 they continue to fly round the intruder in wide circles, rarely coming 

 within gun-shot. His dog, if he have one, meets with attention far 

 more close : he is completely persecuted : now one bird dashes down, 

 and appears literally to Jli/ in his face ; a second sweeps over his 

 back, almost touching him ; while a third comes upon him from be- 

 hind : in short, much the same scene occurs as when a number of 

 swallows espy a cat taking a noon-day walk on a house-top, only the 

 scene in question is accompanied with the incessant utterance of 

 single short plaintive notes. 



If you happen to revisit the spot after the lapse of ten or fifteen 



