CORDEAUX : THE SPURN. 



5 



shearwater is entered as killed against the lantern at 2 a.m. on 

 August 5th, and a Honey buzzard was taken alive on the balcony of 

 the low light, at 2 a.m. on September 14th. 



Woodcocks arrive in considerable numbers with north and north- 

 east and south-easterly winds. Coast shooters affirm that it is a 

 south-east wind which brings large grey or light-coloured cocks, a 

 north wind bringing small red-coloured birds, the former no doubt 

 coming from more southern localities than the small red Scandinavian 

 bird. At the time the Woodcocks are expected, the sandhills frequently 

 swarm with Gold-crested Wrens; so regularly do these appear that they 

 are locally known on the coast as 'woodcock pilots.' Only a few 

 birds nest on the promontory; about a mile north of the lighthouse 

 there is a colony of the Lesser Tern, which unfortunately is becoming 

 smaller each year through the senseless and relentless plunder of 

 the nests by excursionists. The Ringed Plover nests also on the 

 beach above high-water level ; Pipits and Linnets are plentiful 

 amongst the sandhills, and the nest of the latter is an extremely 

 pretty structure, lined with the white feathers of the Tern. Cuckoos 

 abound in May, and frequently appropriate the nest of the meadow 

 pipit for their egg. The Sheldrake recently nested here, and no 

 doubt would continue to do so if left unmolested. 



It is a curious fact that in the spring migration the Bar-tailed 

 Godwit, Knot, and Grey Plover, which, during the hist week in ]NLay, 

 are very common on the Humber shores, do not appear to go north 

 of Spurn, but leave the coast there to cross the North Sea; this line 

 of migration is suggestive of an ancient coast line, which, towards 

 the end, or perhaps subsequent to the last glacial epoch, swept east 

 or north-eastward from Holderness to southern Scandinavia and the 

 mouth of the Baltic. It is a striking fact, as mentioned by Mr. J. R. 

 Mortimer in a paper read before the British Association at York, 

 1 88 1, that chalk boulders south of Hornsea contain black flints, 

 which are never found in the Yorkshire chalk, and which must have 

 come from Norway; the flints north of Hornsea are more of the 

 Yorkshire type, and probably derived from Flamborough. 



Spurn has also long been famous for the capture of rare insects, 

 many of these, such as the lepidoptera, unquestionably coming from 

 beyond the sea. The observations taken at Heligoland by Mr. 

 Gatke, and recorded from time to time in the migration reports, 

 show that not only birds but immense numbers of butterflies and 

 moths pass that island, traveUing from east to west. Some years 

 since many Convolvulus Hawk-moths were washed up by the waves 

 on the coast between Spurn and Kilnsea, having doubtless perished 



Aug. 1884. B 2 



