232 WHIMBREL 
when it has repeatedly occurred in Belfast Lough; a few 
also in Kirkeudbrightshire, and it is recorded as a scarce 
autumnal migrant on the English shores of our sea. Its 
occurrence in Orkney is somewhat doubtful; one specimen 
at least has been obtained in Shetland, and two in the 
Outer Hebrides. It is most plentiful on the east of 
England, where it formerly bred. 
NUMENIUS PHAOPUS (Uinn.). 
W HIMBREL. 
Suitable parts of our coast are visited by the Whimbrel 
in small numbers with regularity on migration, especially 
in spring. I have heard it passing over the neighbourhood 
of Douglas and met with it in May in various localities 
along the northern coast, never more than a few birds 
together. In the early summer the coast around Castle- 
town is fairly well stocked with Whimbrel. The species 
is quickly betrayed and readily identified by the musical 
rippling cry, usually or always uttered during flight; the 
Curlew sometimes makes use of a somewhat similar call, 
but its utterance does not constitute the same clear and 
definite succession of similar notes. Little parties of 
Whimbrel resort to the salt pools among the Langness 
rocks (not the sands) during the ebb, and are, in com- 
parison with the Curlew frequenting the same spots, very 
tame. Much of their feeding, however, is likely done 
during the night and early morning on the sand links and 
grassy fields behind the bays. I have seen twenty together 
on the sward of Fort Island, but such a number is unusual. 
