56 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



know nothing relating to their enemies when the water covered 

 the sands, but clearly during the dry week of each fortnight they 

 could only be preyed upon by birds ; and my observations were 

 directed towards the latter creatures. Here was a matter of seven 

 hundred tons of food lying a couple of inches beneath the 

 surface, and, one would think, open to the attacks of many shore 

 birds. From July 23rd to August 18th, with one or two slight 

 breaks, I was either on the sands or within sight or earshot 

 of them at all states of the tide, and all parts of the day ; the 

 keen eyes of my wife and of my host were also pressed into 

 these studies. The results are interesting chiefly from their nega- 

 tive character. 



The actual channel was comparatively rich in life — Shrimps 

 {My sis sp.), immature Herring, Sprats, Spotted Gobies, Flounders, 

 Sea Trout, and Sand Eels. From the refuse thrown up by the 

 nets of the salmon fishers I took a Smelt and many of the curious 

 Aphya minuta, our smallest vertebrate. These no doubt were 

 the attraction for a flock of about a score of Arctic Terns {Sterna 

 macrura) and one Little Tern {S. minuta) that appeared on 

 August 8th. A heronry two miles away was seldom represented 

 on my area, and I never here saw a bird fishing. Curlews were 

 noisy and moving all the time, but as they confined themselves 

 to the tidal pools which I knew to be full of young Flounders, 

 Gobies, Shrimps, &c, and as I never actually saw them working 

 the uncovered sands, I will omit these also. Twice in July I 

 observed parties of eight or ten Dunlins {Tringa alpina) — in full 

 breeding plumage, and perhaps belonging to the large race — 

 feeding on Corophium ; on both occasions they were accompanied 

 by a pair of Ring Plovers {<Egialitis hiaticola). The Common 

 Sandpiper {Totanus hypolencus) kept strictly to the water's edge, 

 as did the few Redshanks [T. calidris) that were about up to the 

 first days of August. The Green Sandpiper {T. ochropus) did 

 not appear until the 18th, when I saw one in a gutter on the 

 marsh. The Lapwing {Vanellus vulgaris) was constantly pre- 

 sent at the edges of the richer pools, and a small number — not 

 more than thirty — were generally to be seen about the wetter 

 portions of the newly uncovered sands. Possibly these were 

 feeding on Corophium, but this is doubtful ; in one instance the 

 small shell Hydrobia idvce was the attraction. 



