A SUNDAY ON BBEYDON. 371 



with them are some younger blotched and speckled examples. 

 They are all busily turning over the wrack in search of Shore- 

 crabs, and such chance fishes they may uncover. You can 

 always tell when they are successful in their search, for a quick 

 grab is followed by an uplifting of the head, and a tangle of 

 weeds depend ; in the bight of them some Crab or Flounder is 

 held fast by the strong bill. A jerk or two and the Crab is flung 

 clear, and is as quickly snatched up again, and crushed, to be 

 swallowed with a self-satisfied shake of the head. I have 

 examined the excreta of these Gulls ; they usually sleep on the 

 " lumps " at regular intervals, and leave them besmeared as 

 with lime. In these white patches are small fragments of half- 

 digested claws and carapaces. Here and there a big Gull has, 

 after repletion, dropped down for a nap, waking for a moment 

 now and again to adjust or readjust some refractory feather, or 

 stretch a wing. I have a strong suspicion that some sharp- 

 biting parasite has disturbed its nap. 



A Shoveler-duck now flew past those Saddle-backs, and 

 dropped into a drain. That bird was shot before the day was 

 out by a gunner higher up. At the same moment a Cormorant, 

 a far from common visitor to-day, is pottering about in Duffell's 

 drain ; he is after a Flounder or two for breakfast. The Gulls 

 usually resent a Cormorant's intrusion, but to-day, for some 

 reason best known to themselves, they do not. 



Seventy Whimbrel, crying as they flew, passed by, and after a 

 few evolutions up and down kept on, and only odd birds frequented 

 the place all day. These came in from the north-east ; mayhap 

 they were high in the air, but these wide-spreading flats so 

 attract passing migrants that if they do not intend to stay they 

 seem compelled to drop within hail of their fellows ; then away 

 they go. It was not until the third attempt, and when they 

 opened fan-like, that I could accurately count them. So large a 

 bunch in August is rather unusual. We see more of them here 

 in May. 



Dunlins in small flocks, with which are associating a few 

 Einged Plovers and two or three Curlew- Sandpipers, fuss around, 

 changing their feeding-grounds. Some of the Dunlins still retain 

 much of the garb of summer, but they are mostly young birds of 

 the year. A little way off are a few Eedshanks and a solitary 



