R. LOFTHOUSE : THE RIVER TEES. 



there, as the following quotation from the Cott. MS., copied from 

 Graves' 'History of Cleveland,' will show: — 'Neere unto Dobham, 

 The Porte of the mouth of the Teese [now called Cargo-fleet, or, 

 more properly, the Cleveland Port] the shore lyes flatt, where a shelf 

 of sand raised above the highe water marke, entertaines an infynite 

 number of sea-fowle^', which lay theyr Egges heere and there scatter- 

 ingHe in such sorte, that in Tyme of Breedinge one can hardly sett 

 his Foote so warylie, that he spoyle not many of theyr Nests. These 

 curious Buylders may furnish themselves with choice of shells and 

 particoloured stones fytt for the makinge of artifyciall works.' In the 

 memory of man large numbers of birds, I have been informed by a 

 friend who was born there, still frequented the shore opposite Cargo- 

 fleet, and nested on the shingle there and in the adjoining ditches 

 and marshes. Wild Ducks, Wild Geese, Snipe, and Water-hens were 

 some of the birds mentioned as breeding here. Snipe may be taken 

 as including the Redshank and others, as I find birds of that kind 

 are called Snipes indifferently by many people in the district. The 

 foreshore at Cargo-fleet is now co^'ered with ironworks and a graving 

 dock. The Ring Dotterel {y^gialitis hiaticuld) no doubt nested on the 

 shingle, as it does still at a particular place, in some numbers, every 

 season. I have before me, while writing, two eggs of this bird, taken 

 from a nest containing four, found in a slag-bank last year (1885). 

 They are spotted with dark brown, on a drab ground, and also with 

 less distinct greyish-purple spots. Dunlins remain all the spring and 

 summer, but I doubt whether they breed. The Redshank {Tofanus 

 calidris) used to nest in Coatham Marshes, and may do still occa- 

 sionally ; a pair nested, to my knowledge, on the north side of the 

 river in the summer of 1884. Two or three Spotted Redshanks 

 {Totanus fuscus) were shot at the estuary last autumn. 



It is not improbable that the Ruff (^Machetes pugnax) bred here 

 formerly. I have seen a very fine pair of male birds that were shot 

 in the month of March, in the act of fighting, twenty-five years ago. 

 Cormorants {Phalacrocorax carbo) still nest in the cliffs beyond Salt- 

 burn, and during the breeding season they are observed to make daily 

 visits to the Tees mouth. 



Numbers of non-resident birds sojourn for longer or shorter 

 periods on the sands and mud-flats in the spring and autumn — or, 

 perhaps, more properly speaking, there is a succession of the same 

 species. Autumn birds begin to arrive at the beginning of August, 

 and continue passing southwards until late in October ; these are the 

 Whimbrel {Niunenius phceopiis)^ Dotterel {Eiidromias tnorinellus), 

 Pygmy Curlew {Tringa subarquatd), Little Stint {Tringa mi7iuta), in 



*_ Probably Terns, with a few Oystercatchers and Ringed Plovers. 



Jan. 1887. 



