3 68 



THE BIRDS OF LINCOLNSHIRE IN l6l2. 



The Knot 41 , that called was Canutus' bird of old, 



Of that great king of Danes, his name that still doth hold, . 



His appetite to please, that far and near was sought, 



For him (as some have said) from Denmark hither brought : 



The Dotterel 42 , which we think a very dainty dish, 



Whose taking makes such sport, as man no more can wish ; 



For as you creep, or cowr, or lie, or stoop, or go, 



So marking you (with care) the apish bird doth do, 



And acting every thing, doth never mark the net, 



Till he be in the snare, which men for him have set. 



The big-bon'd Bustard 43 then, whose body bears that size, 



That he against the wind must run, e'er he can rise : 



The shoulder, which so shakes the air with saily wings, 



That ever as he flies you still would think he sings. 



These fowls, with other soils, although they frequent be, 



Yet are they found most sweet and delicate in me.' 



41 Tringa canutus L. — The wide-extending muds and sands on the Lincoln- 

 shire coast, and the great flats of ooze at the entrance of the Humber and Wash, 

 afford very attractive feeding grounds for immense flocks of Knot, and great 

 numbers remain in these situations during the winter. This species was formerly 

 taken in nets,' like the Ruff, and when fatted for the table was considered almost 

 equal in delicacy of flavour. — J. C. 



42 Eudromias morinellus. — Occurs with tolerable regularity, but in very limited 

 number, on the high wolds, in the last week in April, and in the marsh districts 

 of North and North-east Lincolnshire early in May, sometimes continuing till 

 later in the month. Dotterel are not easily distinguishable on fallow-land or newly- 

 sown corn. Their habit, however, when resting, of suddenly elevating a wing — 

 just as Golden Plover do — will frequently lead to their instant detection. The 

 poem alludes to the well-known belief that Dotterel imitated or mimicked the 

 actions of the fowler. — J.C. 



43 Otis tarda. — The records of the Bustard on the Lincolnshire wolds are very 

 few. They probably became extinct about the close of the last century or com- 

 mencement of the present, when the wolds were enclosed and cultivated. — J.C. 



NO TE— ORNITHOL O G Y. 



Tree-sparrow in North Lincolnshire. — November 13th. This 

 pretty species {Passer montanus), which nests somewhat sparingly in North-east 

 Lincolnshire, occurs in very large numbers in the autumn, arriving in October and 

 November. This afternoon I found a flock crowding the top of a low hedge, 

 probably numbering 2,000 birds. They sat very closely packed along the sunny 

 side of the fence, from which, with much chattering, they continued to drop in a 

 continuous stream on to a barley stubble, and concentrating specially at one spot, 

 till a space of something like eight yards by five was so densely crowded that to 

 the eye nothing but a brown patch was visible ; for many yards around this also 

 hundreds were scattered on the stubble, apparently searching for small seeds, as 

 they constantly shifted their position. When put up they flew rapidly in three or 

 four very crowded detachments to the next fence, again uniting in one flock and 

 dropping as before on the stubble. From their very bright and clean appearance 

 I think they must have been quite a recent arrival. — John Cordeaux, Great 

 Cotes, November 15th, 1886. 



Naturalist, 



