Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/123

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THE BIRDS OF GREAT YARMOUTH.
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birdstuffer) wife washed them "as she would stockings," and hung them out to dry (B. of N. vol. ii. p. 65). A third example is referred to.

Eudromias morinellus. Dotterel.—R.R. Has in a few instances in late years been secured on the North Denes; much less frequent than in the earlier half of the century. An aged gunner recently informed me that (when a young man in the fifties), he several times met with these birds on the denes, which were so tame that he used to walk round them, in lessening circles, to get them to "bunch up" before shooting them. An example killed itself against Winterton lighthouse, May 30th, 1898; same time two were taken at Repps; two or three others August of same year.

Ægialitis asiatica. Caspian Plover.—A. An adult male of this Asiatic species (now in the Norwich Castle Museum) was shot in a market-garden bordering the North Denes, Yarmouth, on May 23nd, 1890. Two were seen, but only one killed.

Æ. hiaticula.—Ringed Plover.—C. With us more or less all the year round. In spring greater numbers, passing, one or two couples still endeavouring to nest on the shingle patches above high-water mark. In the seventies several nests might be discovered near the rifle-butts. I have known of some instances where eggs have been taken home by certain persons, and the young have been hatched out. This is a very wary species, often alarming flocks of Dunlins on the approach of danger. Local ornithologists distinguish a larger and a smaller variety. Local, "Ring Dotterel" and "Stone-runner."

Æ. cantiana. Kentish Plover.—N.U. May be "frequent," but is not easily recognisable, at a distance, from the immature of the Ringed Plover. I occasionally see a couple or more on Breydon in May; observed three there on a mud-flat, May 30th, 1898.

Charadrius pluvialis. Golden Plover.—C. Common in the autumn, when individuals with partly black breasts are sometimes obtained. We very rarely observe it on the spring migration, although thirty were observed in March a year or two since on the Bure marshes during a severe fall of snow. I observed one as early as July 14th, 1896, on the Bure marshes.

Squatarola helvetica. Grey Plover.—C. Small flocks of