140 
WHIMBREL. 
In Scotland it occurs during the course of migration from 
the Grampians to Sutherlandshire, and breeds on the Island 
of Handa, and other parts of Sutherlandshire, in the northern 
and most retired districts. Sir William Jardine has found 
it in June, in Kircudbrightshire. In Orkney it is common as 
a summer visitant, and breeds in Hoy; also in Shetland, in 
Yell, and Hascosea. In Ireland it is seen only, according to 
Mr. Thompson, in spring and autumn. 
The course of its migration is northwards for the breeding 
season, about the month of May, and southwards ‘au retour, 5 
in the autumn, in July and August; the old birds in the 
former month, and the young ones in the latter. The flocks 
advance at a considerable height in the air, and in the form 
of the letter Y reversed. 
The Whimbrel, too, delights in summer in the most 
desolate districts, open moors, and barren tracts, especially 
those in which watering places occur, and in the winter 
frequents the sands of the shore, and the mud-banks, and 
mud or sand-islands of the estuaries of rivers, or of the sea. 
It, like the larger species, is a very fine bird to eat. More 
than four or five are rarely seen together, and these probably 
the brood of the preceding year. They are rather shy in 
their habits, and a few of the number are posted as sentinels 
twenty or thirty yards from the main body, and on notice 
of the approach of any danger given by these, the whole 
number are in an instant on the wing; young birds are 
sometimes met with more unwary. During the breeding 
season, they sometimes perch on a knoll or the low fragment 
of some decayed or storm-blasted tree. Before rain they are 
noisy and restless. 
This bird feeds on insects, mollusks, and worms, which it 
procures by probing with its bill in the sands or other soft 
places; also on small crabs, beetles, and other insects; 
grasshoppers, crickets, and snails, and the whortleberry, 
crowberry, and bilberry. When the tide is up, in the season 
of their sojourn by the sea, they leave the shore temporarily 
for the adjoining fields, but instinctively return to the former 
the moment it is again left uncovered. 
Yarrell writes, ‘Their note is said to resemble the words 
‘tetty, tetty, tetty, tet,’ quickly repeated.’ Meyer however, 
and I think better, renders it by ‘twoiwe,’ or ‘tloiwe,’ and 
also a ‘tsei, tsei.’ 
The nest is a rude couch, placed among the heather on the 
