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THE BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

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THE

BIRDS OF NORFOLK,

A
EEMAKKS ON THEIR HABITS, MIGEATION,

AND LOCAL DISTRIBUTION:

HENEY STEVENSON, F.L.S.,

MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION.
IN THREE VOLUMES.

YOL. IL

" Cum medio celeres revolant ex sequore mergi,
Clamoremque ferunt ad litora ; cumque marinse
In sicco ludunt fulicse ; notasque paludes
Deserit, atque altam supra volat ardea nubem."

Geor. Lib. I., 1. 361.

JOHN VAN VOOEST, 1, PATERNOSTER ROW,

NOE"mcH :

STEYENSON AND CO..

1870.

PREFACE.

ERRATA AND CORRIGENDA.

Page.

Line.

89 .,

.. 10.

For already read all ready.

124 .

.. 25.

For 1825 readl^M.

144 .,

,. Note

',. For above quoted read before quoted,

148 .

.. 17.

Dele hyphen in down like.

172 .

.. 18.

For Hiclding read Sutton.

254 .

.. ]9.

For 1855 read 1853.

281 .

.. 4.

For beino; read is.

291 .

.. Second note, t /or *.

297 .

.. 4.

Dele turned commas before borings.

327 .

.. 20.

For has read have.

342 .,

,. 5.

For four of read four or.

400 .

. 12.

Dele nearly before all found.

418 .

.. 20.

For W. Bligh read S. Bligh.

have less reason to regret, since it has enabled me to
put on record facts, retained only in the memory of our
oldest inhabitants, and which a very few years hence
would have been procurable only in a traditionary, and,
therefore, far less rehable form.

There are but few individuals now living who re-
member the Great Bustard in Norfolk and SuiFolk even
in its latter days, and fewer still are the octogenarians
who can recall the appearance of this noble species
when still existing in " droves " in the Thetford or

PREFACE.

In completing a second thongli not final volume of tlie
"Birds of Norfolk," I feel that some explanation is
due not only as to the unavoidable delay in its publica-
tion but as to the motives which have induced me to
extend the former plan of the work. I should state, then,
that in the endeavour to render my account of the Great
Bustard as complete as possible, with reference alike
to its habits and habitat, when an indigenous species in
Norfolk, and to the history of such specimens of either
birds or eggs as are still preserved in public and private
collections, I was led into so considerable an amount of
correspondence that this paper had been but recently
completed, when read, in a condensed form, before
Section D, of the British Association, at their meeting
in Norwich, in 1868. This species, therefore, which,
according to the classification I have adopted, properly
commenced the present volume, may be said to have
stopped the way for a considerable period, and has
thus been the chief cause of a delay which I certainly
have less reason to regret, since it has enabled me to
put on record facts, retained only in the memory of our
oldest inhabitants, and which a very few years hence
would have been procurable only in a traditionary, and,
therefore, far less reliable form.

There are but few individuals now living who re-
member the Great Bustard in Norfolk and SufPolk even
in its latter days, and fewer still are the octogenarians
who can recall the appearance of this noble species
when still existing in " droves " in the Thetford or

m PREFACE.

Swaff ham tracts ; and in expressing my warmest
thanks to those who have so readily communicated
all the information in their power on this most inter-
esting subject, I have to regret the loss — while the
concluding portion of this volume has been passing
through the press — of two valued contributors, the
Rev. Henry Dugmore, of Beachamwell, and Mr. Anthony
Hamond, of Westacre, whose reminiscences as sports-
men and naturalists have been of essential value to
this work, and whose courtesy on all occasions in
furthering its objects is held in very grateful remem-
brance.

Owing to more recent information respecting the
late Eev. R. Hamond's Bustards, at Congham House,
I have found it necessary to cancel my first description
of them,"^ but the dates and particulars as now given
are, I believe, fully rehable. I find, however, that I
have by no means exhausted the list of Norfolk killed
Bustards, as even within the last few months I have
ascertained the existence of others, which will be de-
scribed in an appendix to the third volume.

As regards the extension of the work, I may add
that the favourable criticism that has, at all hands,
been bestowed upon those biographical sketches,
whereby in my first issue I sought to interest even
non-ornithological readers in the life history of our
*' feathered favourites" left me no option but to describe,
in like manner, the more familiar forms amongst
our waders and wild fowl, and thus while my
original notes have been entirely rewritten, the greatly
increased amount of materials at my disposal has
necessitated either an additional volume, or so con-
siderable a curtailment of the remaining portions as
would have destroyed entirely the uniformity of the

* A few copies of the Bustard paper, in a pamphlet form, were
printed for private circulation only.

PREFACE. Vll

work. Under tliese circumstances, I determined to adopt
the former alternative, and rather than divide so im-
portant and well defined a group as the Anatidce, I have
closed the present volume with the Grallce.

In treating of this large and most important group,
so extensively represented, both in residents and mi-
grants, within the bounds of this county, I have taken
much pains to trace out the history of such species
as have ceased altogether to breed in Norfolk; thus
for all time to establish facts, which, years hence, under
the altered condition of the soil, might be scarcely
credited. But for the testimony of Sir Thomas Browne,
modern ornithologists would never have supposed that
the Spoonbill nested in Norfolk some two hundred
years ago, and yet, with the exception of the Cormorant,
no other indigenous species appears to have been lost
to this county from the reign of Charles II. until the
early part of the present century. Since that time, how-
ever, beside the Great Bustard, and from causes which I
have elsewhere treated of, no less than three species,
once abundant in our marshes and fens durmg the
breedmg season, have become altogether extinct — the
Avocet, the Black Tern, and the Black-Tailed Godwit ;
while the Euff and Reeve, represented only by a few
pairs and in but one locality, must shortly be added to
the list if the timely protection of the law be not invoked
to prevent it. So strong is, I believe, the attachment
of certain birds to the place of their birth, and so un-
erring the instinct which directs them, though absent
in winter, to return year after year to the same spot,
that, provided only a single pair survives to represent
an indigenous race, the ancestral haunt will not be
deserted ; but if that last native pair be destroyed their
place is rarely,* if ever, again filled, even though many

* As exceptions may be mentioned, tte Hen Hai-rier and Mon-
tagu's Harrier, wliich. still, occasionally, remain to nest in our

VUl PREFACE.

representatives of the species on their migratory course
may visit our shores in spring ; for these, too, are seek-
ing some far off home, and the local race may thus pass
away for ever.

Surely the success which has already attended the
passing of the Sea-Birds Preservation Bill, should
encourage its promoters to seek an extension of its
powers so as to secure a " close time " as well for all
waders and wild fowl. Of the beneficial effects of such
an Act there can be no question, judging only from my
own experience during the last few years of the result
of careful preservation, within a limited area, and yet
nothing short of a legal penalty will deter a certain
class of sportsmen (?) from shooting Snipe long after the
pairing season has commenced, or even killmg a Wild
Duck from her nest if unfortunately met with at the
same time. Remonstrance is in vain with such persons,
who, accustomed year after year to perpetrate such
enormities, are lost to all sense of shame. In fact,
they can be classed only with those summer " excursion-
ists " both in the North and South of England, whose
holiday '^ sport " until very recently consisted in the
wholesale slaughter of brooding Gulls and Guillemots;
and if such birds, for their beauty, their cries of warning
to the mariner, or simply on the ground of abolishing
a cruel practice, are to receive protection during the
breeding season, why not also our waders and wild-
fowl, exquisite alike in form and action, and comprising
many species that, in due season, rank amongst the
greatest delicacies of the table, and which, in spite of
the altered features of the country through drainage
and cultivation^ would still, under a protective system

marshes, and tlie Bittern, wliicli, though extinct for some years
prior to 1866, has since that time been both heard and seen at
Hoveton during the summer months, and a nestling and eggs have
been procured at Upton.

* In "Laud and Water" for August 5th, 1870, are some extracts

PREFACE. IX

afford a far greater amount of sport to the legitimate
sportsman ?

From the interest that attaches to those birds,
which, though not directly included in the list of game,
still form a highly attractive portion of the ^^bag" to
most sportsmen, I have dwelt somewhat in extenso on
the local habits of the various Plover, and Sandpipers
that frequent our shores and marshes, whilst for like
reasons the Snipe and Woodcock have demanded even
more space ; and the facts which I have collected as to
their local and general history will, I trust, be read with
interest by those for whom they were more especially
intended — the sporting naturalists. In the absence, also,
at present, of any legal protection, I would here plead
strongly on behalf of the Woodcock in spring, a bird
which, though yearly evincing more and more disposition
to nest in our woods and plantations, is too often driven
away or destroyed by the relentless gunner. Only let
country gentlemen, and game preservers generally, interest
themselves in this matter, — for the remedy lies in their
own hands, and by strictly prohibiting their keepers and
others from killing Woodcocks later than the end of
February, they will in all probability be re-paid by the
interesting sight of a Woodcock sitting on her leafy
nest in their own coverts. A sight, too, which, owing
to the extreme tameness of the bird at such times, may
be frequently and harmlessly indulged in.

In the selection of illustrations for this intermediate
volume, the Great Bustard, as a now extinct species in

from a code of game laws in force in the state of New York, and
thougli in a country whose waste lands as compared with cultivated
are perhaps as ten to one, we find penalties attached to the killing
or destroying of Wild Pigeons during the nesting season ; Wild-
Ducks between the 1st of February and 15th of August ; and Wood-
cocks between January 1st and July 4th. No wUd birds nests to
be robbed. No wild birds to be killed excepting in August, Sep-
tember, October, November, and December; exceptions in favour
of naturalists and persons preserving fruit from depredation.

X PREFACE.

Norfolk, naturally suggested itself as of chief interest,
and I consider myself most fortunate in once more
securing Mr. Wolf's services, whose original drawing
for the present frontispiece was made from sketches
of living specimens in the Regent's Park Zoological
Gardens. The drawing on the stone and colour pattern
were executed by Mr. J. Smit, and the plates have
been coloured by hand by Mr. William Smith, with
his usual care and skill.

The tinted lithographs by Messrs. Hanhai't, of Brey-
don and Thetford warren are from sketches made on
the spot by Mr. J. Reeve, of the Norwich Museum, and
most accurately represent the main features of those
highly interesting localities.

Breydon " muds," as here depicted at low water,
have a world-wide celebrity, from the number of rare
birds which have from time to time been killed thereon
by the Yarmouth gunners ; and the wild aspect of the
Thetford warren scene, with the old warren lodge in the
extreme distance, also faithfully represents the strangely
imdulating barren waste, which there forms a portion of
the "breck" district. The two birds in the foreground
to the left of the group of Lapwings, which have
unfortunately lost much of their identity in being
reduced on the stone, represent the Stone Curlew, the
sole representative, now-a-days, in that bleak locality, of
the Great Bustard.

H. S.

NOEWICH,

September, 1870.

THE BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

OTIS TARDA, Linn^us.

GEEAT BUSTAED.

With almost kindred feelings to those with wliicli one
contemplates, in the human race, the extinction of
some great historic name, the naturalist, at least, regards
the extermination amongst us of this noble indi-
genous sj)ecies ; and in either case we mark the same
final cause — the failure of ^' heirs male." It is singular,
however, considering the interest that appears to have
attached, at all times, to so fine a bird, that our printed
records of its ways and means should be, for the most
part, so brief and unsatisfactory, and that the biography
of the Great Bustard, like that of many other celebrities,
should have remained to be written after it had ceased
to exist, as a resident, on British soil. Of its general
history pretty full particulars may be gleaned from the
well-known works of Selby, Yarrell, Gould, and others ;
and to this, therefore, I need not refer; but I shall
endeavour to give as complete an account as possible of
the Bustard in its special character of a Norfolk bird,
and I have it fortunately in my power to make public
a considerable amount of information hitherto unavail-
able. In particular I must mention that Mr. Alfred
Newton (Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy
in the University of Cambridge), who has long been
collecting materials for a complete monograph of this

B

Z BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

bird — a design he is still prosecuting — lias, in tlie most
friendly and liberal spirit, assisted me in many of the
most important details, as will be evident to all who
may peruse the present narrative. Mr. John Scales,
formerly of Beachamwell, and Mr. Thomas Southwell,
of Lynn, have also obligingly contributed much informa-
tion relative to the bustard in the neighbourhood of
S waff ham.

Besides the barren "brecks" of Norfolk and Suffolk,
the great bustard, on good authority, appears in former
times to have been extremely common on all the open
parts of this island, which were suited to its habits —
the elevated moors of Haddingtonshire and Berwickshire,
the desolate wolds of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire,
Newmarket and Royston heaths on the borders of
Cambridgeshire, together with the downs of Berkshire,
Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Southampton, and Sussex, being
all more or less frequented by it ; but in every one of
these localities it had ceased to exist before the last of
the race of British bustards fell victims to the advance-
ment of agricultural enterprise, in this and the adjoining
county.

Of our local records the earliest in point of date'^ are
contained in the published extracts from the Household
Books of the L'Estrange's, of Hunstanton, where, in the
'^ Privy Purse Accounts," for the year 1527, we find the
following entry : —

The xljst weke,

Wedynsday. Itm viij malards, a bustard, and j hei'nsewe
kylled wt ye crosbowe.

* There is apparently but one earlier notice of the great bustard
in Britain, viz., in the works of the celebrated Scotch historian.
Hector Boethius, published in the year 1526, whose remarks on
this species are referred to by Willoughby. The entries in the
Northumberland Household Book, which commenced in 1512,
and in which bustards are mentioned, are also nearly contemporary
with the Hunstanton records.

GREAT BUSTARD. d

And, again, in tlie year 1530, amongst ilie list of
gratuities —

Itm in reward the xxvtli day of July to Baxter's svnt of Stan-
newgh [Stanhoe] for bryngyng of ij yong busterds, ij**-

Nearly a century and a half later. Sir Tliomas
Browne* (who died in 1682), describes the bustard as

* The only other reference to this species to be found in the
writings of this distinguished naturalist is contained in the
following postcript to a letter written by Sir Thomas, in 1681,
to his son Edward, as published in Wilkin's edition of his works
(vol. i., p. 311) : — "Yesterday I had a cock bustard sent mee from
beyond Thetford. I neuer did see such a vast thick neck : the
crop was pulled out, butt as a turkey hath an odde large substance
without, so had this within the inside of the sTcinne, and the strongest
and largest neck bone of any bird in England. This I tell you,
that if you meet with one you may further obserue it." From this
passage, it would seem that this wonderful observer of nature, as
much in advance of his time in this, as in other scientific
investigations, had arrived very nearly at the discovery of the
" gular pouch" in this species (figured by Edwards, Bewick, and
others), which has caused so much controversy amongst tho
most eminent ornithologists, and the existence of which, though
now fully established, has been so often and so stoutly denied.
Space does not permit me to do much more than direct the
attention of my readers to other works in which this interesting
subject has been fully discussed. Suffice it, then, to say that the
discovery made by Dr. James Douglas in the early part of the
last century, of a large sac or pouch capable of much distention,
and situated within the skin of the neck of the male bustard,
but which the subsequent investigations of Professor Owen,
Mr. Yarrell, Mr. Bartlett, Dr. Giinther, and others failed to estab-
lish, has been fully confirmed beyond the possibihty of doubt, by
Dr. W. H. Cullen, of Kustendjie, Bulgaria (see "Ibis," 1865,
p. 143), from the examination of two fine adult males, killed in that
country, both of which exhibited an opening under the tongue,
leading directly into a pouch, which extended as far downwards as
the furcular bone — " a separate and distinct though delicate bladder,
very much resembling in appearance the air bladder in fishes."
One of these specimens now in the Museum of the Eoyal College
b2

4 BIEDS OP NORFOLK.

" not unfrequent in the cliampian and fieldy part of the
county ; " an expression which rather conveys the idea
that they were not particularly numerous even at that
period, and as, unfortunately, we possess no further
notes of its existence in these parts for the next hundred
years at least, we come at once to the commencement
of the present century, when the gradual but inevitable
extinction of the species forms the burthen of the story
of each successive writer. "These noble birds," wrote
Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, in 1825,"^ "still continue
to breed in the open parts of Norfolk and Suifolk,
though they are become much scarcer than formerly.
The places most frequented by them are Westacre, in
the former county, and Icklingham, in the latter.
At both places they are carefully preserved by the
proprietors. In the summer of 1819, nineteen of them
were observed together at Westacre." From that
time, however, they appear to have gradually but surely
decreased in both counties, it being a rare event to see

of Surgeons of London, was exliibited in 1865, by Mr. "W. H.
Flower, at a meeting of the Zoological Society. The second
is in the University Museum at Cambridge. Dr. Cullen seems
inclined to believe that this singular structure is a seasonal
peculiarity in adult males only, and is by no means intended to
contain water as formerly supposed, but is simply an air bag,
connected, probably, with a strange sound emitted by the cock
birds in the breeding season, but not heard at any other time. For
a complete history to that date of the " gular pouch" controversy,
see a paper by Mr. A. Wewton in the " Ibis" for 1862 (vol. iv.,
p. 107). See also the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society" for
1865, p. 747, " Zoologist " for 1863, p. 8556; and 1866, pp. lU and
189; "Field,"December 16th, 1865; and March 24th, 1866.

* Mr. Newton considers 1825 to be the date of the last Yorkshire
nest, and 1826 of the last specimen ; and it is probable that the
race became extinct in Lincolnshu'e about the same time. Else-
where in England it had been for some years exterminated, in
Wiltshire jirobably prior to 1820.

GREAT BUSTARD. 5

more than two or three in company, and in 1832, there
is reason to believe that a nest found on the borders of
Thetford warren was the last known in Suffolk, and a
single bird observed later in the summer of the same
year, on Ickliugham heath, the sole survivor in that once
noted locality. Mr. Newton thus refers to the appearance
of this solitary bird — " Mr. Thornhill, of Riddlesworth
Hall, in July or August, 1832, while walking one hot day
across Icklingham heath, came upon a place where it
was evident that some large bird had been rolling and
dusting itself in the sand. On examination, he found
close by a bustard's feather, and looking round him
he perceived a hen bustard not many yards off, and
this is til e last well authenticated instance of the occur-
rence of this fine bird in Suffolk that I am aware of."
The late Mr. J. D. Hoy, who, writing in November,
1832, recorded the occurrence of the last Suffolk nest
in the "Magazine of Natural History" for 1833 (p. 150),
also states that the old bird carried off her young in
safety, and that a male bird and two females had been
recently seen together on the same heath. Subsequently
Mr. Newton ascertained from the late Mr. J. D. Salmon
(who, with Mr. Hoy, saw the young bird that was
hatched from this nest when about half grown) that the
nest was situated in a field of rye, into which the old
and young retired when disturbed.

Norfolk now remained the last of our English counties
to reckon the bustard amongst its resident species, nor
was this privilege to be long enjoyed. In the spring
of 1833, as recorded by Mr. S^tlmon (" Mag. Nat. Hist.,"
1834, p. 458) : — " Three females resorted to Great
Massingham Heath for incubation. Their eggs con-
sisted of two pairs and a single one. These were
taken away under the impression that, as there was
no male bird, they were good for nothing;" but this
was possibly a mistaken impression, inasmuch as in

6 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Spain,"^ where thej still abound, the cock birds in
Andalucia are known to part company from the hens
in the month of May, and, leaving the latter on the
uplands, betake themselves to the marshes. Still,
however, to quote once more from Mr. Newton's notes,
a small flock of hen bustards, including the parents of
the eggs mentioned, continued to occupy the country
around S waif ham for some years longer, but there is no
record of any cock bird having been observed — it is, there-
fore, a sad reflection when we think that had a male bird
been procured from the continent, and liberated in that
district, the great bustard might still have been an
indigenous bird in this country. Be this as it may — the
hen birds are asserted to have dropped eggs at random,
continually, as the season came round, without taking
the trouble to form their usual slight nests — and this
continued until the year 1838. In the month of
February of that year, a female bustard was brought
to the Cambridge market, where it was bought by Mr.
Smith, the butler of Pembroke Hall, for Mr. William
Borrer, of Cowfold, in Sussex, then an undergraduate
of Peterhouse, in whose possession it still remains;

* Lord Lilford, who has had recent opportunities of observing
these birds in Spain and has very kindly favoured me with
several notes respecting them, states, that "They are extremely
common in all the central and southern parts of that country suited
to their habits, particularly in the immense plains of Estremadura,
the valley of the Guadalquivir, about Seville, the arid, treeless,
plains of La Mancha and old Castile. The main body arrive in
the country early in March, and about the middle of April pair.
My own impression is they are not strictly polygamous, though
instances thereof often happen. The gi'eater number leave Spain
about October, though a good many always remain in Andalucia
during the winter. I have seen upwards of a hundred together
near Seville, in April ; and I believe in the autumn, after harvest,
they collect in immense numbers in the grass marshes below that
town."

GREAT BUSTARD.

and that gentleman liaving taken the trouble of tracing
its history, ascertained that this specimen was killed at
Dersingham, near Castle Rising, in Norfolk, on the
28tli of the preceding January."^ Later in the same
year (1838), another specimen, also a female, was killed
at Lexham, near Swaffham,t and sent to Mr. Knight, of
Norwich, to be preserved for the late Mr. F. W. Keppel.
This bird was found on dissection to contain an egg
nearly ready for exclusion, and when examined, in the
flesh, by Mr. J. H. Gurney and others, had the down
under the breast feathers suffused with a most delicate
rose coloured tint, which, according to Yarrell, was
also observed in the Dersingham bird, and, if looked
for, will probably be found in all specimens. It may
even still be open to doubt whether this was really the
last killed in England deserving the name of a British
bustard, since in Mr. Dowell's MS. notes I find the
following brief but important entry : — " A great bustard
was killed by Mr. Woods, of Morston, about 1837, and
was sent to Lord Charles Townshend." On further
enquiry, that gentleman's son, Mr. W. G. Woods writes,
under date of March 20th, 1865 :— " The great bustard I
took to Lord C. Townshend, about twenty -four years
since ; it was a female, but whether young or old I don't
know. I never heard of its being seen there before. It
was killed in autumn." Mr. Dowell, who, I believe,
made the entry in his note book from a verbal statement

* Mr, Joseph Clarke, of Saffron Walden, also confirms this
account in a recent letter, and adds that having heard of this
specimen, he at once proceeded to Cambridge with the hope of
securing it for the Saffron Walden Museum, but Mr. Borrer had
already purchased it.

f This is the same bird recorded in the "Annals of Natural
History" for 1838 (vol. i., p. 334) ; and again in 1839, in vol. iii. of
the same journal, p. 141.

8 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

of Mr. Woods, gives the date of this female"^ as " about
1837;" Mr. W. G. Woods, however, considers that it
was *^ about twenty-four years since," that is to say,
from the date of his letter to me in 1865, which
would make it some three years later than, instead
of one year prior to the Lexham bird. That the
former supposition is by no means impossible is further
shown by a record in Mr. Lubbock's " Fauna" (pub-
lished in 1845), in which that gentleman says " one
bustard three years back was observed in the parish of
Bridgham, near Harling," a statement which Mr. Newton,
after much enquiry of people in that neighbourhood, is
rather inclined to credit, and adds, ^^ whatever it was,
though shot at by a gentleman, the late Mr. George
Montgomerie (then living in the adjoining parish of
Garboldisham), it was not obtained, and hence the
uncertainty that exists. I have met with several
rumours, each apparently with an independent origin,
of a bustard having been seen in Norfolk about that
time (1842), so that I cannot but think there is some
truth at the bottom of them."

Such, then, in brief, is the history of the gradual
and final extinction of this noble species in the Eastern
Counties. In order, however, better to comprehend the
causes which led to so unfortunate a result, I have
thought it desirable to collect from every available source
the scattered records existing of its habits, numbers,
and local distribution. Yet, besides such notes as have
appeared from time to time in natural history publica-
tions, there remained to be gathered from the evidence
of shepherds, warreners, gamekeepers, labourers, and
others, still living in localities where these birds had so

* I have been unable, after many enquiries, to ascertain wbetber
tbis bird was cooked and eaten at the time, or preserved as a stuffed
specimen.

GREAT BUSTARD. 9

recently existed, much valuable information ; and to this
end, commencing in the year 1851, Mr. Alfred Newton
and his brother Mr. Edward Newton, then residing
at Elveden, devoted a considerable amount of time and
labour, more especially in the neighbourhood of Thetford,
on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk. Of this " hear-
say" evidence, I consider myself most fortunate in being
enabled to give a summary, since, having been carefully
written do^vn at the time, after conversations held with
many of the oldest men, and those most conversant with
the now exterminated birds, on the Elveden and adjoining
estates, it contains many interesting facts, which in a
few years might have been lost altogether, or, at best,
would have survived only in the vague and unsatisfactory
form of local traditions.

During the last hundred years the story of the
bustard in Norfolk and the adjoining parts of Suffolk —
for it would be inexpedient here to be restricted by
merely civil limits — seems to be this. The open country
round Swaffham, and that near Thetford, formed each
the head-quarters of a " drove," for so an assemblage of
these birds was locally called. The Swaffham tract, a
long narrow range, chiefly lying in the " breck " district,
bounded on the east by the enclosed part of the county,
and on the west by the fens, extended probably from
Heacham in the north to Cranwich in the south, if
indeed it did not reach by way of Mundford and Weeting
across the borders of the county to the Wangford and
Lakenheath uplands, which are strictly part of the Thet-
ford or Stow tract, to be presently considered^. In this

* It is possible, also, that the two tracts were more contei^minous
than the evidence at hand shows, and that there was communica-
tion in a more direct line by way of Ickborough, Tofts, and Croxton,
between the two " droves." It seems to have been a belief, that
when the cock birds failed in the Swaffham tract, the hens
c

10 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

Swaffliam tract the drove formerly consisted of, at least,
twenty-seven birds, as the Eev. Henry Dugmore, of
Beachamwell, informs me that he perfectly remembers
(although he cannot recall the exact date^) riding on
one occasion, at Westacre, in company with the late Eev.
Robert Hamond, and, when walking their horses across
the open country, the whole drove of twenty-seven
bustards flew by them within fifty or sixty yards. Mr.
Scales, also, in the same locality once saw twenty-three
together ; and Mr. Hamond, of High House, Westacre,
can recollect this drove as numbering twenty-two birds.
There can be little doubt, therefore, if earlier information
were available, it would be found that in strength this
drove was by no means inferior to that which at the same
time frequented the other tract. Again, from twenty-
three or twenty-two, this drove subsequently decreased
to seventeen or sixteen, then to eleven, at which number
Mr. Hamond remembers it long stood, and finally
dwindled to five and two ; all accounts agreeing in this,
that the last remaining birds were hens only. The
.cause of this diminution has already been briefly stated
in the " Introduction " to this work (vol. i., pp. li., lii.)
It may be, however, convenient to repeat here more
fully that the hen bustard nearly always laid her eggs
in the winter-sown corn, which in former days was,
almost without exception, rye — sown broadcast after the
old fashion. As the mode of tillage improved, wheat

there were visited by bii'ds of the opposite sex from the other
locaUty ; but this is not very likely to have been the case, as it is
pretty nearly certain that at the time when the presence of the
cocks in the Swaff ham tract was most desirable there were none
left in the neighbourhood of Thetford.

* Mr. Gould, in his " Bu-ds of Great Britain," records this same
incident, quoting from a letter addressed to the Eev. John
Fountaine by Mr. Henry Dugmore, and though the date is
not given, it is said to have been "as far back as 1820."

GREAT BUSTARD. 11

was gradually substituted for rye, and, at the price that
grain fetched in those days, the desire of not using more
seed than was absolutely necessary brought about the
invention of the drill, by means of which corn, thus sown,
was capable of being kept free from weeds with much
greater facility. First, parties of children were sent into
the fields to perform this operation, and then speedier,
if not more thorough, execution was obtained by the use
of the horse-hoe. Thus, every nest made by a bustard in
a wheat-field was sure to be discovered — perhaps in time
to avert instantaneous destruction from the horses' feet
or the hoe-blades — ^perhaps, and this probably much the
most often, only when the eggs had been driven over and
smashed, and their contents were pouring out on the
ground. But even in the first case, instantaneous destruc-
tion being avoided, the eggs were generally taken up by
the driver of the hoe (in defiance of the Act of 25th
Hemy VIII., which, though often enforced when smaller
and less valuable species were concerned, seems in
the case of the bustard to have been regarded as
a dead letter), and carried by him to his master or
mistress. If they were not chilled by the time they
reached the farm-house they were probably put mider a
sitting hen — for all persons seemed to imagine, till they
tried, that the rearing of young bustards was as easy
as the rearing of young turkeys. If, however, there was
no hope of success in this direction, they appear often
to have been preserved as natural curiosities, to lie, with
grotesquely shaped flints and petrified Echini (the "fairies'
loaves " of the district) on the parlour mantel-piece or
book-shelf till they met with the usual fate of such
fragile articles, though some four or five specimens are
known to have escaped all such risks, and are actually
still in existence. But in either of these cases the
result was the same. No young birds grew up to fill the
gaps made in the ranks of the old ones according to the
c 2

12 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

common course of nature, to say nothing of those caused
by occasional violent deaths : for, although Mr. Hamond
(following the example of his father before him) and
most of his neighbours allowed no molestation of the
bustards on their estates, yet there is little doubt that
every now and then one fell to the gun, or was caught
in the gin of a depredator, while the smaller proprietors
were by no means actuated by any feelings for the per-
petuation of the stock, and a few of the larger ones
occasionally vrished to supply themselves or their friends
with specimens for their collections or even for edible
purposes."^ Not a thought of the extermination of the
species seems to have passed through their minds.
Either they were entirely indifferent about the matter,
or else they believed that since, as long as they could
remember, there had always been bustards on their
brecks, therefore bustards there would always be. Several
of the specimens thus obtained still exist in various
collections, and an enumeration of them with all the
particulars of their history, now to be obtained, vdll

* The late Mr. Birkbeck informed Mr. J. H. Gurney that he
remembered on one occasion a West ISTorfolk friend sending a
young bustard to his father as a present for the table, showing that
they were occasionally so used in West Norfolk, as late as the end of
the last or beginning of the present century. The late Col. Hamilton,
also, in his "Reminiscences of a Sportsman " (vol. i., p. 178), gives
an account of a bustard, which he had been invited to dine off some
fifty years ago by the late Mr. Hyde, of Lexham Hall. It had been
shot, it appears, by a tenant of Mr. Hyde's, who, when riding up a
lane with his gun and a terrier dog, saw a large bird fly across
about twenty yards before him. He shot at and winged it, but, on
recovering itself, the bird ran so fast that but for his terrier which
seized and held it till he came up, it must have escaped. "It
proved," says the colonel, " an excellent bird, and the breast was of
two colours, brown and white." Mr. Newcome says that when
Mr. Colquhoun hved at Wretham, it was reported that there was
generally a bustard or two hanging up in the larder.

GEEAT BUSTARD. 13

conclude this notice. It is to be remarked that cock birds
are said to have been comparatively scarce in this drove,
three being the most that are spoken to by any eye-
vdtness, and, as has just been stated, when the numbers
of the drove were much diminished, cocks were entirely
wanting. These observations probably refer to the
old cocks, which so greatly surpass the hens in
size, for it must be remembered that, as is known
through foreign observers, the male bustard is several
years in attaining its full grovH:h, and until then it
camiot be readily distingiiished from the female at a
distance.*

Whether the bustard was (and, in countries such as
Spain and Central Germany where it still exists, is)
polygamous must be regarded as an open question. The
evidence of Norfolk and Suffolk observers certainly tends
to the belief that it was so ; but, on the other hand, the
late Professor Naumann, who was a most acute ornitho-
logist, and had abundant opportunities for investigating
the economy of this species in Saxony, denies (Vogel
Deutschl., vii., pp. 35-41) that such was the case, except
to a very limited extent, which exactly agrees with
Lord Lilford's opinion, as previously given (note, p. 6).
So also the evidence is somewhat defective as to whether
the bustard was resident or migratory. According to
Mr. Scales, and a more competent authority there
can scarcely be, the cocks annually disappeared at
the latter end of spring and beginning of summer.
What became of them it is not easy to conjecture, but it
seems certain that towards the breeding season they
ceased to live in company with the hens, and were,
therefore, at any rate, partial migrants. The hen birds

* A young male of foreign origin, kept in confinement by Lord
Lilford, did not acquire its beard until the beginning of April in
its second year.

14 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

seem also, but this is not so certain, in East AngKa to
have absented themselves from the time when the
harvest was gathered in till the beginning of the new
year. Indeed, the existing evidence of the appearance
of bustards from the middle of September to Christmas
is very scanty, and this is the more remarkable because
this period of the year, forming a great" part of the
shooting season, is just when one would have expected
more to have been observed than perhaps at any other
time.* Early in January these birds showed themselves,
and rem.ained in droves, generally frequenting the turnip-
fields, where they fed largely on turnip-tops, and till the
winter-corn was sufficiently grown to afford them shelter,
they were seen commonly enough. When the com, the
rye especially, was coming into ear, the hen birds retired
into it to form their nests — shallow holes scraped in the
ground with a slight bedding of dry grass. Here they laid
their two eggs — perhaps, indeed, three occasionally, but
testimony as to the third is not altogether conclusive —
and endeavoured for some months to avoid observation.
When the com was cut, they gathered again into droves
for about a month or six weeks, after which time they

* The late Mr. [Henry] Elwes, as recorded, by Yarrell, " shot
a hen bustard to a pointer in a turnip-field, at Congham, in the
autumn of 1831." There is also a story of Colonel Wildman, of
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, having killed a bustard in
Norfolk during the shooting season, but date and other particulars
are wanting. At Elveden, between the 4th and 18th of Sept., 1813,
the late Sir Alexander Grant shot at a young bustard, which was
caught in a rabbit-trap a few days after (the 27th.) The bird shot by
Mr. Wood, as previously mentioned, was killed in autumn. The
L'Estrange Household Book, already quoted, mentions one brought
to Hunstanton in the forty-first week, which, counting (after the old
style) from 1st of March, would be that beginning December 6th.
These are all the occurrences bearing upon this point, and thus
there is positively no precise information respecting the appearance
of a bustard during the months of October and November.

GREAT BUSTARD. 15

once more disaj)peared, and were not seen again until
the frosts and snows of January brought them into the
turnip-fields, and displayed them prominently to the
observation of the shepherds and other field labourers.
Mr. L. Sooby, formerly a tenant of Mr. Hamond's at
Gayton, is inclined to connect their appearance on a
particular part of his land with the prevalence of a
rather common weed, the " Owl's crown " (Filago
germanica, L.), which he said they used to eat ;* but
this evidence rests entirely on that gentleman's authority,
as does also a statement that in the summer the evening
was the time when they usually came forth to feed. In
addition to this, he speaks very positively as to the fact
that in the last days of the species the surviving hens
used to scrape many more nest-holes in the grovuid than
there were birds to occupy them, and on all sides it
woidd appear that, if at that time a cock bird could
have been procured from any other country and liberated
in this locahty, the species would have been preserved at
least for a few years longer.

The precise time at which the extinction of the
Norfolk bustard took place, like that of the extinction
of many other species, is not, perhaps, now to be deter-
mined with accuracy. The year 1838 is the last when
examples are known with certainty to have been killed ;

* The food of this species in a wild state, as in confinement,
appears to be somewhat varied, as Naumann specifies many
diiferent kinds of plants and other green food, together with
beetles, mole-crickets, and grasshoppers. Selby states that, besides
its usual diet of grain, seeds, and green corn with turnip-tops in
winter, " it also eats worms, and has been known to devour mice
and young birds, which are swallowed whole ;" and a still earUer
authority, Willughby, writes, " It feeds on corn, seeds of herbs,
colewort, dandehon leaves, &c. In the stomach of one dissected,
we found a great quantity of hemlock seed, with three or four grains
of barley, and that in harvest time."

16 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

but several persons believe, and with some show of
reason, that a bird, or even two birds, lingered on in this
tract till 1843 or even 1845. This last date, however, is
the very latest that can be assigned, and the probability,
from the evidence available, is in favour of the exter-
mination having been thoroughly effected seven years
earlier — namely, in 1838.

Though it is desirable to mark, as has been done,
the former existence of two distinct droves of bustards,
it must not be inferred that the birds belonging to the
one just spoken of in the country round Swaffham,
and included entirely in Norfolk, did not occasionally
commingle, by the route already indicated, with the
other drove haunting the tract nearer Thetford, and
stretching from Brettenham and Snarehill, in Norfolk,
across the county border to Barnham, North Stow,
Icklingham, and much further into Suffolk, till with
perhaps a slight interval it joined the tract around
Newmarket, celebrated by Ray as a locality for this
species, while westward it was only bounded by the fens,
.and at Lakenheath became almost conterminous with
the southern limits of the Swaffham tract. There is an
additional reason, also, for considering this tract sepa-
rately from that first spoken of. It seems probable that
the causes which effected the extinction of the bustard
there had but little to do with it here. Owing to the
comparatively poor soil the staple crop of grain in this
locality has only very recently been changed from rye to
wheat, if, indeed, the change is now entirely consum-
mated. Another cause must, therefore, be sought, and
this appears to have mainly been the planting of long
belts of trees with the object (as briefly stated in the
"Introduction") of sheltering the arable land from the
violence of the wind, the ill effects of which in blowing
the light sand, here chiefly composing the surface soil,
is one of the most serious obstacles with which the

GREAT BUSTARD. 17

agriculturist has to contend.* The continuous drifting
forward of innumerable sharp angular particles, con-
sisting almost entirely of comminuted flint, so chafes
the tender cuticle of young corn or turnips, that an
exposed breck after a few hours' gale, looks as if it had
been subjected to a blast of air at an excessive tempera-
ture, and in a day or two the vegetation withers away to
the destruction of the farmers' hopes. When this has
happened remedy he has none, he can look alone to
prevention. Accordingly, under the fostering care of
the landlords, numerous plantations have, within the
last fifty or sixty years, sprung up throughout the whole
of this tract, not only entirely changing its aspect but
rendering it entirely unsuitable to the wary habits of
the bustard, which soon learned to become jealous as
any strategist of what might afford an enemy harbour.
Prior to the practice of planting becoming general, the
bustard was probably as numerous here as any where in
England. t IckHngham heath has been for many years

* My limited space enables me only to quote tlie title of an
interesting paper on this subject in the " Philosophical Transac-
tions," to which I would here draw the attention of my readers,
being an account of a very remarkable disaster, originating on
Lakenheath warren, apparently about the end of the sixteenth or
beginning of the seventeenth century, and devastating the land
for a distance of five miles till stopped by the river at Downham : —
" A curious and exact relation of a Sand-floud, which hath lately
overwhelmed a great tract of land in the county of Suffolk;
together with an account of the check in part given to it; com-
municated in an obliging letter to the publisher, by that worthy
gentleman Thomas Wright, Esq., living upon the place, and a
sufferer by that deluge." — Phil. Trans., 1668, vol. iii., pp. 722-725.

t It is of this particular locaUty that Yarrell writes ("Brit. Bds.,"
3rd ed.), " My worthy friend, the late Mr. Frederick J. Nash, of Bishop
Stortford, several times told me, that when he was a young man,
and then taking the field as a sportsman, he once saw nine flights
of bustards ia one day, not far from Thetford, in Norfolk. Some
D

18 BTKDS OF NORFOLK.

celebrated as a habitat for it. George Edwards, in his
" Natural History," says that the subject of his plate of
tbis bird, wbich bears date 1746, "was presented to me
fresh and in fine order by Mr. Daniel Gwilt, of Milk-
street, London, my mucb esteemed friend and relation ;"
and the Rev. Robert Gwilt, the present representative of
that family, long seated at Icklingbam, has lately been
good enough to furnish the information that Edwards's
original drawing from a bird killed at that place is now
in his possession. Yet it would seem that Icklingham
was not the chief place of resort for bustards in that
tract, since the testimony of all the oldest men of the
neighbourhood, now or lately surviving, points to North
Stow heath as the stronghold — though, in truth, the
difference is but slight, for this last is in an adjoining
parish. But no doubt the birds shifted their ground
from place to place within the tract according to the
supply of food. Tradition gives forty to thirty as the
strength of the drove in the last century, and it does not
appear to have much, if at all, diminished at the
beginning of the present, for that estimate is confirmed
by several of the eye-witnesses examined, one of whom
peeping over a warren bank, at Elveden, as near as he
could recollect about the year 1812, and just after
harvest, saw quite close to him a drove which might
have consisted of forty birds, " large and small," which
sat there preening their feathers. The evidence of
another man, who, as a boy, was about that time or a
little earlier, shepherd's page at Barnham, where he
caught a young bird alive, tends also to show that from

of these birds were probably seen more than once, but at that time,
the beginning of the present century, the country between Thetford
and Brandon, and from thence southward to Mildenhall, was con-
sidered the head-quarters of the great bustard in the counties of
Norfolk and Suffolk."

GREAT BUSTARD. 19

forty to thirty were usually seen together there in
winter.* About this period, however, commenced the
practice mentioned of planting trees, and the effect of
this agricultural improvement soon became manifest.
Indeed the year 1812 may, perhaps, be looked upon as
the bustard's " grand climacteric " — ^the turning point
of its existence in this locality. None of the witnesses
to a later period can speak roundly of such numbers as
forty or thirty being seen ; the largest droves spoken
to henceforward consisted of twenty-four, and even this
may have been as early as the year just mentioned.
The late Mr. Newton, of Elveden, with his brother-in-
law Mr. Waddington, of Cavenham, and another gentle-
man, were riding across Icklingham heath when, at the
end of a plantation, they came suddenly on two dozen
bustards, which at once took wing and dispersed in all
directions. After this time no one speaks of seeing
more than eighteen, and as the experience of the
different persons questioned draws nearer to the present
day, fifteen or fourteen, nine, seven, six, five, three, and
two are successively the numbers specified by the various
eye-witnesses. Here, too, as in the Swaff'ham tract, the
last survivors are reported to have been hens only.

Though a considerable amount of protection was
accorded to this bird by some of the largest proprietors,
the Duke of Grafton, at Euston,t Mr. Newton, at

* It is of course, in most cases, very difficult to get at the date
of any of these occurrences, but in this case it may be approxi-
mately reached. The young bustard this man caught was ultimately
purchased, he said, by " Lord Paget," who then lived at Wretham.
Now this Lord Paget (subsequently the celebrated Marquis of
Anglesey) in March, 1812, became Earl of Uxbridge. It is, there-
fore, pretty evident from the name applied to him by the witness,
that the fact mentioned must have taken place before the higher
title was assumed.

t Mr. Lubbock states, in 1845, on the authority of a veteran
sportsman, Sir John Shelley, " that forty years ago parties used to
D 2

20 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Elveden, and the Messrs. Gwilt, at Icklingham, others
permitted their persecution. George Turner, formerly
a gamekeeper at Wretham, and subsequently living at
Thetford, was suffered by the late Sir Robert Buxton,
Lord Comwallis (the latter owning the Culford estate,
in which was mcluded North Stow heath, already
spoken of as the " head place" for these birds) and
others, not only to go in quest of them with a swivel gun,
mounted on a wheelbarrow screened with boughs, a
parchment stalking horse, and similar devices,* but
even to construct masked batteries of large duck-guns,
placed so as to concentrate their fire upon a spot strewed
with turnips, and there is no question that first and last
he was the means of killing a very considerable number.
The guns forming his batteries had their triggers
attached to a cord perhaps half a mile long, and the
shepherds and other farm-labourers on the ground were
instructed by him to pull this cord whenever they saw the
bustards within range. A shepherd on the Place Farm,
at Thetford, of which Sir Robert Buxton was landlord,
has stated that on one occasion, about the year 1820,
he saw five or six bustards on the fatal spot, whereupon

be made to go and look at the bustards, by those who visited at
the Duke of Grafton's, and other great houses in the neighbour-
hood of Thetford, and that a distant view of some of these birds
could always be obtained."

* " There is an old blacksmith," writes Lord Lilford, " at
Shrewton, about half-way between Salisbury and Devizes, who well
remembers people coming from London to shoot bustards. They
used to drive round them in a cart gradually diminishing the circle,
and a good many were killed in that manner. The same method is
adopted in Spain and in the Danubian Principalities. I do not
think the bird was ever so abundant on Salisbury Plain as in
Norfolk, the largest number I could hear of, together, in the
former district was fourteen." The stalking-horse is mentioned by
the German ornithologists as a common means of getting within
shot of bustards.

GREAT BUSTARD. 21

he pulled the string as he had been told to do, and shot
two cock birds, weighing twenty-four or twenty-five
pounds each. There is evidence, also, of hen bustards
having been captured on their nests. Already before
1811, Coulson, keeper to Lord Albemarle, had tried
ineffectually to throw a casting-net over an old bird at
Elveden, as she was sitting, but he was obliged to
content himself with taking her eggs and putting them
under a hen, when in due time they were hatched, and
and the yomig, being successfully reared, lived in a
garden for some time till killed by dogs, which acci-
dentally obtained an entrance. But more than ten
years later, Mr. Booty, a farmer, at Barnham, performed
the feat with greater dexterity at Stow, and carried off
the old bustard which he kept in the cheese-room of his
farm house. Besides this a gmismith, at Bury St.
Edmund's, is said to have encouraged the destruction of
these birds, buying them when brought to him without
being particular as to whether they were obtained with
the leave of the proprietors or without it, and thus
altogether it would seem as if the bustards in this
tract of country were more molested than those around
Swaifham. To this cause may, perhaps, be attributed
their earher extinction, for while the latter certainly
lingered till 1838, there is no trustworthy evidence
whatever for believing that the former existed later
than 1832, in the autumn of which year Mr. Thornhill,
of Riddlesworth, as has been mentioned, had a very
good view of one on Icklingham heath, and it may be
pretty confidently stated that this was the last time a
bustard was observed in that locality.

As may have been expected, there seems to have
been little or no difference in the general habits or
mode of nidification of the bustards in these two tracts.
They appeared and disappeared at the same periods of
the year, and frequented localities as nearly as possible

22 BIKDS OP NORFOLK.

identical in character. One peculiarity in their habits,
which does not seem to have attracted much notice
before, should here be mentioned. This was the
pugnacity of the cocks in the spring. At Elveden a
shepherd (at least before the year 1820) on one occasion
saw two cock birds fighting, and so intent on the
combat were they that he ran up and killed one with
his staff. This bird was sent to London to the late
Mr. Newton and eaten. Of between fifteen and twenty
nests, the situations of which have been more or less
precisely pointed out or described by eye-witnesses in
the Stow tract, only two were not in rye ;'^ of these two,
one was said to have been on the short rabbit-cropped
ling of a warren, and the other in a young plantation
of about two years' growth; but, as it was often
customary to grow rye between the rows of trees, before
they had attained any height, it seems quite possible
this had been done here, and in that case the occur-
rence would not be so very exceptional. It has been
so constantly asserted by various authors that bustards
were commonly taken by greyhounds, that the state-
ment has become an article of faith among many
persons. Whatever the practice may have been in other
parts of England, there is certainly no evidence that
it was pursued in Norfolk or Suffolk. The Swaffham
Coursing Meeting was one of the most celebrated in the
whole country, and in the open districts of both counties
the sport of coursing was formerly most extensively
followed, greyhounds being very generally kept, yet none
of the older inhabitants have ever heard, except from

* Mr. Lubbock ("Fauna of Norfolk," p. 41), speaking of
Coulson's attempted feat, says the nest was "in a pea-field"; but
tbe statement is otherwise uncorroborated, and Lord Albemarle,
who was the author's informant, does not seem to have been
himself an eye-witness, and may have been misinformed.

GEEAT BUSTARD. 23

books, that bustards were taken by dogs. One eye-
witness, in Suffolk, speaks to a bird having run for
about twenty yards (a very short distance for a course),
pursued by a greyhound, which nearly succeeded in
catching it, but this, he stated, was an accidental
circumstance, and all other testimony is to the fact that
a bustard could rise "as light as a lark.""^ The capture
recorded by Mr. Lubbock (" Fauna of Norfolk," p. 41)
of a bird at Sprowston, to be hereafter mentioned, is
clearly not to the point, smce " the greyhounds came
suddenly through a gate close to it, and seized it before
able to take wing," so that there was probably no course
at all. If ever the coursing of bustards by greyhounds
was practiced in any part of England, it could only have
been when the birds were very young, or, being old, had
moulted out their quill feathers. t I may here add, how-

* A male bird observed on two occasions by Messrs. Sheppard
and Whitear, " suffered itself to be approached to about the distance
of a hundred yards, then ivalked deliberately a few paces and took
wing, without the least difficulty .^^ The often quoted Unes, also,
from the " Polyolbion " —

" The big-boan'd bustard then, whose body beares that size,
That he against the wind must runne, ere he can rise."
only show that Drayton was not so good an observer of nature as
he was poet, for the habit mentioned is common to a very large
number of birds, as every snipe-shooter knows. In the " Illustrated
London News," No. 733, for December 8th, 1855, a contributor
spoke of the days when English coursers

" Gaily slipped their greyhounds at the bustards in the fens."
But the editor of that newspaper preserved a very discreet silence
when requested to supply the authority whence the " quotation"
was made.

t Naumann (Vog. Deutschl., vii., pp. 45, 46) suggests a prob-
able origin for the story, which he calls " absurd," in the fact that
bustards are occasionally incapacitated for flight by having their
wing coverts frozen, to which several authorities bear wit-
ness ; but such an event must be rare in any country, and

24 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

ever, that my friend, Mr. W. H. Roberts, who practised
for many years as a surgeon at Feltwell, where he first
took up his residence in 1811, informs me that he
used frequently to see bustards on the large open
fields about Cranwich, though never more than two or
three together ; and on riding after them on horseback,
they would run a considerable distance before taking
wing.

Mr. Lubbock, referring to the wholesale slaughter
committed by that notorious otidicide George Turner,
of Wretham, states that on one occasion having placed
his big duck-guns so as to command the spot where
he had laid food for the bustards, he succeeded in killing
seven at one discharge. I have ascertained, however,
that this feat, although Turner " tulit honor es/' was,
after all, not performed by him, but by another person.
Mr. E. Abbott, of Pamdon, Essex, and formerly of
Wretham, thus describes the occurrence in a letter
recently received from him, adding at the same time
several additional particulars : — " I think it was early
in the spring of 1812, as far as I can recollect. The
guns, four very large ones, had been fixed many days
by Turner (the then head keeper at Wretham, where
my father was steward and manager), before anything
like an op^^ortunity offered of killing more than three or
four. When one wild day, returning from Thetford,
where I had been sent by my father, I saw with a pocket
telescope, which I generally carried, that no less than ten
birds were all directly before the guns, and on the very
spot where Turner had constantly been wishing to see

especially so in England. In an interesting paper on this bird
by the Eev. A. C. Smith, the author inclines to the belief that
the "sport" of coursing bustards was followed "in drizzling wet
weather" when "the birds' feathers were soaked in rain" (Wilt-
shire Magazine, vol. iii., pp. 141-144). A singularly unsports-
manlike practice it would seem !

GREAT BUSTARD. 25

them. I pulled the cord attached to the guns from the
place of ambush, and thus shot seven at one discharge.
Six were killed outright, and one fine old fellow had his
wing broken, and was, of course, soon despatched with a
stick I had. I remember the birds were presented by
Turner to the then Prince of Wales (George IV.), the
Duke of York, and others,"^ and I believe had the effect,
in some degree, of procuring the berth of head-game-
keeper at Windsor for Turner's son, where he lived till
his death."

Mr. Thomas Brightwell, of Norwich, lately informed
me that on one occasion, when Mr. Barker lived at
Anmer, he and his son saw a bustard as they were
walking over the open "brecks" between Anmer and
Houghton ; and in the same locality, according to a
communication received through the late Lady Mid-
dleton, a bustard was found and fired at by Lord Henry
Cholmondeley when quite a young man.

In the " Catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds,"
by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, those gentlemen
state that " Mr. Hardy, of Norwich, has more than once
succeeded in domesticating this species," and through

* In Ray's edition (1678) of Willughby's " Ornithology" occurs
tlae following passage as to the estimation in which the bustard
was then held for the table : — " Though some discommend their
flesh, yet with us it is esteemed both delicate and wholesome.
Hence, but chiefly for its rarity, the bustard sells very dear,
serving only to furnish Princes and great men's tables, at feasts
and public entertainments."

Dr. Bree (" Field," 1867, p. 465) mentions his having partaken
of a bustard in 1831, at Mr. Chad's, then British minister at Berhn,
who had estates in Norfolk, from whence the bird had been pro-
cured, (a very long way for them to be sent in those days !) and
most probably from some portion of the Swafi'ham tract, lying ia
the direction of Thursford. It was well-tasted, something between
turkey and goose, " a rare union of gastronomic excellence."

E

26 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

the interest taken in the subject by the late Sir William
Hooker, I have had transmitted to me extracts from a
journal kept bj Mr. Hardy, which show that on May
6th, 1801, he received a bustard's egg from Mr. Winner,
of Litcham ; on May 13th, 1802, two eggs from Mr.
Sainty, of Heacha-m ; as also, on June 10th, 1803, and
June 7th, 1804. On October 26th, 1804, Mr. Hardy
writes that he received a young male bustard from Lord
Petre, who at that time owned the Buckenham estate,
near Thetford. On May 30th, 1808, three eggs were
sent him by Mr. Pratt (of Ryston ?), and on November
8th, 1813, he received " a fine male bustard about six
months old from George Turner, of Thetford." To all the
entries of eggs, except the first, Mr. Hardy adds that he
placed them under a hen immediately. With reference,
also, to Mr. Hardy's birds, Tarrell (" Brit. Bds.," 3rd ed.,
vol. ii., p. 422) quotes the following passage from a note
at the foot of page 197, in Bennett's edition of White's
Selbome : — " Two birds of this kind, male and female,
have been kept in the garden ground belonging to the
Norwich Infirmary, and have but lately been sold by
the owner of them. The male bird was very beautiful
and courageous, apparently afraid of nothing, seizing any
one that came near him by the coat ; yet, on the appear-
ance of any small hawk high in the air, he would squat
close to the ground, expressing strong signs of fear.
The female was very shy." This, so-called, Norwich
*' Infirmary," however, as I have very recently ascer-
tained, was no other than the Norfolk and Norwich
Hospital, from whose archives it appears that Mr. George
Hardy filled the ofiice of house surgeon and apothecary
to that institution from the year 1793 to 1826, and it was,
therefore, in the enclosure at the back of the Hospital
that his experiments in hatching and rearing bustards
were carried on. In confirmation of the above I may
add the following communication very kindly sent me

GREAT BUSTARD. 27

by Mr. G. S. Kett, of Brooke, a former treasurer
of the Hospital : — " I perfectly well remember Mr.
Hardy's bustards. He had them many years, and
succeeded in making them quite domesticated. At one
time I recollect his having three, if not four; they
were beautiful birds, especially the adult ones, but they
were sent away before I was treasurer to the Hospital.
I understood they were dismissed in consequence of the
male bird annoying the convalescent patients in the
airing grounds. They had always the appearance of
being very healthy, but I cannot say how Mr. Hardy
first became possessed of them, or how he reared the
young." The article in "Eraser's Magazine," for
September, 1854, supposed to be written by the late
Mr. Broderip, mentions a few other cases of tame
bustards — three kept by the Duke of Queensberry on his
lawn at Newmarket, and one possessed for a long time
by Mr. Westall, of Eisby, in Suffolk. Mr. Mac Took,
a former owner of Sandringham, is also said to have
kept a tame bustard,^ and in his notes on this species,
supplied to Mr. Yarrell, the Rev. R. Lubbock writes.

* A very fine male bird in Mr. Newcome's collection at Feltwell,
was, until lately, in the possession of Lord Lilford, wlio received it
alive fi'om the Zoological Gardens at Brussels, having come origi-
nally, he believes, from Leipsic. This bird, which died in January,
1867, was preserved in perfect health for nearly four years, the
only one his lordship has been able to keep in. confinement more
than a few months. " By nature," writes its former owner, " he
was exceedingly bold and tame, and would approach any one who
entered the aviary quite fearlessly, making a curious guttural noise
almost impossible to describe. He ate mice, raw meat, worms,
snails, wheat, barley, turnip-tops, lettuce, and grass, and lived
amicably with other birds, godwits, a purple water-hen, bronze-
winged pigeons, &c., though he and a gold-pheasant cock had
difierences, and the latter was quite the master." The gular
pouch was, I understand, found in this bii'd, when skinned by
Leadbeater.

E 2

28 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

" When a boy I remember two or three individuals in
a domesticated state. I recollect one of these birds
swallowing, in an instant, a thin leather glove which
I dropped."

The local distribution of the bustard when an inhab-
itant of Norfolk, was, as may be gathered from the
foregoing paragraphs, comprised vdthin the boundaries
of the "Breck" district;"^ indeed, scarcely any other
part of the county was suited to their habits, and whilst
their head-quarters were situated around Westacre and
Thetford, the latter haunt, on the extreme southern limit
of the county, immediately adjoined their chief stronghold
in Suffolk, at Icklingham and Elveden. From the two
centres as it were, already described, we trace them by
the records of birds seen or killed, or of localities in
which nests were occasionally discovered, diverging in
all directions, yet rarely overstepping their prescribed
bounds even when wandering in search of food during
hard winters. The wide sandy "Denes," on the
borders of the Wash, backed by rough marshes and
running streams, were, no doubt, at all times, a
favourite resort for their roving flocks at the close of
the breeding season. Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear
speak of having twice seen a male bustard in the neigh-
bourhood of Burnham; and a male bird still preserved
at Hillington Hall, near Lynn, was trapped at Docking,
as ascertained by Mr. G. B. Ffolkes, more than fifty
years ago. As I learn, also, from a communication
received through my friend Mr. G. G. Fowler, the late Mr.
William Ffolkes remembered, when a boy, having seen
seven bustards, on several occasions, in the parish of
Hillington ; but these, from the desire of people at that
time to procure specimens, were soon reduced to three
hens, of which the last was the Dersingham bird, pur-

* See the "Introduction" to vol. i., p. xlviii.

GREAT BUSTARD. 29

chased by Mr. Borrer, at Cambridge. Mr. Wood's bird,
killed at Morston (a not unlikely locality), had no
doubt travelled beyond its ordinary beat, in search of
those companions whose fate had been sealed before its
own, and of other stragglers, not necessarily migrants,
Mr. Lubbock states (1845) " some twenty-five years back
several were observed in Wilby field, between Attle-
burgh and Harling, within twenty miles of Norwich."
To refer, also, once more to the bird mentioned
by the same author as "taken some fifty or sixty
years back, at Sprowston, within two miles of this city,
by means of greyhounds," it appears quite as probable,
from the circumstances attending its capture — which
occurred on a " very windy morning after a tempestuous
night" — that it had been caught by the gale and thus
transferred from the western to the eastern side of the
county,* as that it had arrived as a foreign visitant
on our coast through the same influences.

It is, however, as a migrant only that the bustard
now holds a place in the list of Norfolk Birds ; and,
considering the range of this species on the continent
at the present time, it is rather a matter of surprise
that more stragglers should not reach the British
Islands, described by Mr. Gouldf as "their western

* In White's " Gazetteer of Norfolk" (3rd ed.), a certain locality
adjoining the parish of Forncett St. Peter, some twelve miles
from Norwich, is described as " Bustard's Green," but I cannot
learn that there are any ornithological associations connected with
it to account for its singular title.

t Mr. Gould, in his " Birds of Great Britain," gives the par-
ticulars of eight migratory specimens killed in different parts of
England since the species became extinct in this county. One, a
female, at the Lizard, Cornwall, in March, 1843 ; another near St.
Austell, in 1854 ; a female, in 1850, at Lydd, in Romney-marsh ;
another in the parish of Bratton-Clovelly, North Devon ; a female
at Leeshill, Cumberland, in March, 1854; one at Hungerford, in
January, 1856 ; a young male at Romney, in 1859 ; and in February,

30 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

limit." On this point, moreover, Mr. Alfred Newton
remarks, " There can be very little doubt that as long as
the bustard exists as a native of France, Germany,
and Sweden, we shall be subject to occasional visits of
stragglers from one or other of those countries just as
we always have been to visits of the smaller species [Otis
tetrax.y It is most probable that the bustard recorded
by Mr. Lubbock as killed at Palling some years back,
was a foreigner, on a visit, perhaps, to its then surviving
relatives, but this bird (an immature male), as I was
informed by the late Eev. Edward Postle, who had had it
for some years in his possession, was killed at Horsey,
near Yarmouth, and not at Palling. Of its capture, Mr.
Postle, in 1865, sent me the following very interesting
particulars : — " It was killed, I should say, in 1820, at
Horsey by the sea, and was seen to come off the sea and
to drop into a turnip field, where it remained tiU a
farmer, a relative of a friend of my father's, got his gun
and shot it. It thus found its way into my father's
collection at Colney." There is no record that I know
of, either before or since that time, of any supposed
migratory bustard on the Norfolk coast until the severe
winter of 1866-7, when, a large bird (which, though not
procured, belonged, I have no doubt to this species),
was likewise observed in the Horsey marshes by Captain
Rising, who thus recorded its occurrence in the

1861, one near York. To these may be added, also, one seen near
Stonehenge by Mr. Waterhouse, 10th of August, 1849 ("Zool.,"
p. 2590) ; two which frequented Burwell Fen, in Cambridgeshire,
from the end of January to the 1st of March, 1856 (" Zool.," pp. 5063,
6279) ; a female found dead in Bridlington Bay, Yorkshire, 11th
November, 1864 (" Zool.," p. 9442) ; and a notice by a correspondent
in the " Field" (April 14th, 1866, p. 317), of one seen, at that time,
at Halton Holegate, in Lincolnshire; and a pair at Candlesby,
in the same neighbourhood, a few years before. That is to say,
one occurs in some part of England on an average in every two
years.

GREAT BUSTARD. 31

"Field" (January 19tli, 1867):— "As I was in my
boat after wild fowl, on the 7tli instant, on Horsey-
mere, I observed a large bird flying towards me.
At first I mistook it for a heron, from its slow,
steady flight, but on its nearer approach, I found out
my mistake. The bird was coming directly over our
heads, but bent its course when some sixty or seventy
yards from ^^s. We both fired, but the bird kept steadily
on its way till we lost sight of it. I could not imagine
what it was, never before having seen the great bustard
on the wing; still, the peculiar round shape of the
wing, jagged also at the edge, the neck, also, and head
so small in comparison with the body, struck me much,
and made me very anxious to get it. On the next two
days it was seen again stalking in the marshes, like an
over-grown turkey, but it would not allow any nearer
approach than one hundred yards before it flew quietly
away, taking, however, but short flights, for it seemed
more careful than wild. Having now no doubt that the
bird was the great bustard, I have been on the look
out ever since, but when once the snow came the bird
absconded." I may here mention, that in April, 1866,
a rumour reached me, through the Rev. C. Norris,
of Briston, of two very large and unknown birds "as
big as turkeys," having been seen by some gunners at
Wells-next-the-Sea, flying low over that district in a
westerly direction. On further enquiry I was unable
to elicit anything more definite than is here given, and
should have scarcely considered the incident worth
inserting, but for the fact that scarcely a week later I
read in the " Field " the notice of a bustard having been
observed in Lincolnshire (April 14th, 1866), as before
stated in the list of migratory specimens.^

* The fact that the great bustard is a bird possessing the power
of flight in a very high degree is one which has been too frequently
overlooked by many English authors. If proof of this be wanted it

32 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

I have taken some pains to ascertain, as far as it is
now possible to do so, the history of such Norfolk and
Sufiblk-killed bustards as are still preserved in public or
private collections, and to this list of stuffed specimens
I have also added a few particulars respecting well
authenticated eggs, from both counties.

In the Norwich museum is a magnificent pair,
presented by Mr. J. H. Gurney, in 1843, and an adult
female, by Mr. Hill Leathes, in the following year.
The former (Nos. 183 and 183a) in full adult plumage,
were originally in the collection of Mr. John Scales,
who has informed me that the male was found dead
on Beacbamwell warren some time between 1815 and
1818, having been, it was believed, previously shot
at and wounded at Narborough by Mr. R. Sanders,
then on a visit to that place. The warreners were
attracted to the spot where it lay by some crows,
which had picked out the eye. It appeared to have
been dead some two or three days, having been hit
in the lower part of the body, and had become so
putrid that Mr. Scales had to remove a large piece of
the skin. It, however, then weighed twenty-four
pounds. The female was obtained in 1831, on
Westacre-field, and was caught in one of about four
dozen rabbit-traps, set by Mr. Scales amongst the
turnips. This bird weighed either sixteen or eighteen
pounds. The history of the second female (No. 183b)
is somewhat more doubtful, but the late Mr. H. M.
Leathes, in a letter to Mr. Gurney in 1853, stated that

is to be found in tlie writings of most of the German ornithologists,
but a very striking confirmation was also given by many of the
newspaper correspondents with the Crimean army in the winter of
1855-6, when a large number of these birds suddenly appeared, it
is said from the eastward, on the steppes between Sebastopol and
Balaklava then occupied by the allied forces. A fine male then
obtained is in the possession of Mr. Alfred Newton.

GREAT BUSTARD. 33

it was obtained, he understood, by his cousin, the Rev.
G. E. Leathes, as long ago as the year 1815, from Parker,
then a gunsmith at Bury St. Edmund's, who asserted
that it had been shot by a gamekeeper at Elveden, in
Suffolk. If so, Mr. A. Newton believes it was killed
before his father became possessed of that estate, and
that one Cornel was most likely the slayer of it.

In Mr. Hamond's collection at Westacre High-
house,* are a male and female, in one large case,
of which the male bird, as Mr. Hamond informs me,
came from Spain,t and the female, as I learn from Mr.
Robert Elwes, is the one (before mentioned) shot by
his father, Mr. Henry Elwes, at Congham, in 1831, and
was stuffed by the Rev. H. Dugmore. In the same house
are also four bustard's eggs, of which one is marked
"Ash Breck, Westacre, 1836, taken by Richard Hamond."
The three others are all believed to have been taken at
Westacre at least thirty years ago.

In Mr. Robert Elwes' collection at Congham House,J
near Lynn, is by far the finest series of Norfolk, or even
British bustards anywhere to be seen, comprising in

* Nearly all tlie rarer birds in this fine collection were procured
either in the Orkneys by the Eev. Henry Dugmore (by whom they
were also mounted), or in. the Low Countries by Mr. J. D. Hoy.

f The pair of bustards, preserved at Weeting Hall, Norfolk,
were brought from Spain, as Mr. A. Newton was informed, by the
late General Angerstein.

J This very perfect collection of British birds, in a wonderful
state of preservation, was formed by the late Rev. Robert Hamond,
and most of the specimens were stuffed and mounted by himself.
It was for many years in the possession of his sister, the late Miss
Hamond, of Swaflfham, at whose death it passed into the hands of
its present owner ; but, unfortunately, there is a want of authentic
records as to the locality of most of the rarer specimens, though
some were probably obtained in this county. The orioles, wood*
chats, a fine purple heron, and others, as Mr. Dugmore informs me,
came from Holland.

34 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

one large case, a magnificent male, two females, a young
bird in nestling plumage, and two eggs, and in a separate
case a third female and two more eggs.^ All the birds in
the large group, as I have recently ascertained, were
procured and preserved by the Eev. R. Hamond, in the
year 1820 ;t and the particulars of their capture, so far as
they can now be ascertained, J appear to be as follows : —
One female was shot by a man at Westacre, who sold it
to Mr. Hamond ; the other was picked up dead, by him-
self, shortly afterwards in a turnip field near S waff ham,
his dog having pointed it when ranging for other game,
and the nestling was hatched out under a Turkey from
one of two eggs, taken about the same time, on either
Westacre or Massingham-field. The history of the male
bird is somewhat more confused, owing, I believe, to
two if not thi'ee having been killed about the same
time, which would account for certain discrepancies
between Mr. Moor's account in the "Zoologist'* and
notes supplied to me by Mr. R. Elwes, Mr. Scales (who
frequently assisted Mr. Hamond in preserving his birds),
and a former gamekeeper of Mr. Hamond's, named
Cater, now in his seventy-ninth year. There is no
doubt, however, that this noble bird was shot at or
near Westacre by Mr. Hamond himself, and, as proved
by his own memorandum on the lithograph, in the year
1820. It is said to have weighed twenty-eight pounds.

* The late Mr. Selby came to Norfolk expressly to see and draw
these birds, and the result will be found in his " Illustrations of
British Ornithology," published in 1825 (vol. i., plates 64 and 64*).

t I am indebted to Mr. Alwin S. Bell, of Weymouth, for the
Bight of a lithograph, representing this group of bustards (see
" Zoologist," s. s., p. 2103), which was presented by the Eev. E.
Hamond in 1831 to Mr. M. Martin, of Eye, Sussex, and on the back
of which, in Mr. Hamond's own writing, is an inscription stating
that they were all shot and preserved in the year 1820.

J See Mr. B. J. Moor's account of these birds in the "Zoologist,"
s. s. (p. 2024.)

GKEAT BUSTARD. 35

The female in the separate case is no doubt the
one which, according to the late Miss Hamond, of
Swaffham, was caught in the following manner by her
father. They were driving in a pony carriage, when
the bird was seen stealing through the rye, near the
road side. It then crouched down, and Mr. Hamond,
walking gently up, threw a jacket or spencer he had
with him over the bird and secured it.

In the late Mr. Lombe's collection, now at Wymond-
ham, in the possession of Mrs. E. P. Clarke, is a fine
pair of bustards, but no record, unfortunately, exists
as to the locality whence the male bird was procured.
It was purchased for Mr. Lombe by Leadbeater many
years ago, and is most probably a foreigner. The female,
as Mrs. Clarke informs me, was presented to Mr. Lombe
by the late Rev. Edward Evans, formerly rector of
Eriswell, in Suffolk. This bird was kept as a pet by
Mr. Evans, and used to come up to the windows of the
house, or even into the breakfast room, to be fed, but
its leg was unfortunately broken through a boy throw-
ing a stick at it, when Mr. Evans had it killed, and
presented it to Mr. Lombe.

In the Eev. C. J. Lucas's collection, at Burgh, near
Yarmouth, is an adult female, recently purchased by
him at a sale, at Stevens', in Covent-garden. I have
had some difficulty in tracing out the history of this
bird, but have at last succeeded in establishing its
claims to be included at least in the list of East Anglian
specimens. In the year 1840, as shown by an entry in
the " donation " book, an adult female bustard was pur-
chased, by subscription,'^ for the Norwich Museimi, there
being at that time no other specimen in the collection.
This bird was procured by the then secretary, Mr.

* The donors being Mr. J. H. Gurney and Mr. Thomas Bright-
well, with the late Dr. Lubbock and Mr. George Morse.
F 2

36 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Eicliard Griffin'^ (now residing at Weymoutli), from
a bird-stuffer, named Bilson, at Bury St. Edmund's,
whose son subsequently informed Mr. A. Newton that
the bird in question had been brought to his father by a
labouring man, and was killed near Lakenheath. From
further enquiries made by Mr. Newton, it would appear
to have been one trapped at Eriswell, in Suffolk, about
1827 or 1829, by a man named Gathercole, and is,
probably, the specimen mentioned by Bishop Stanley
(" Familiar History of Birds," vol. ii., p. 3, 2nd ed.) as
having been trapped at "Cresswell" — an obvious mis-
print for Eriswell, near Mildenhall. This female remained
in the Norwich Museum until Mr. Scales's fine pair were
presented by Mr. J. H. Gurney, when, as a duplicate,
it was exchanged for several foreign bird-skins, and
thus passed into the hands of Mr. W. E. Gator, then
an Tuidergraduate of Queen's College, Cambridge,
who subsequently parted with it to Mr. A. E. Sealy.
During that gentleman's absence from England, in
1865, I first saw this bird in the charge of Mr. F.
Barlow, of Cambridge, and recognised it at once when
sent to Norwich by Mr. Lucas, in 1867, to be re-stuifed.
On enquiry I ascertained from Mr. Lucas that he had
lately purchased the bird in London, at the sale of part
of Mr. Sealy 's collection, consequent on his continued
residence abroad. Mr. Knight, of Norwich, who has
been for many years birdstuffer to the Norwich Museum,
examined Mr. Lucas's bird at my request, and from the
manner in which one leg had been mended with black
cord, and other peculiarities, was perfectly sure of its
identity with the original museum specimen.

The male bird killed at Horsey, since the death of

* In a letter lately received from Mr. Griffin confirming these
particulars, that gentleman also adds that an egg, quite ready for
exclusion, was taken from this bird, and was in his possession for
some years, but he cannot now remember what became of it.

GREAT BUSTARD. 37

the Eev. Edward Postle, has passed into the hands of
his brother, Mr. Henry Postle, of Witchingham ; and
the female procured at Lexham in 1838, is still pre-
served at Lexham Hall, as Mr. Lubbock has recently
ascertained. To these must be also added the Docking
male, before mentioned, in the possession of Sir William
Ffolkes, of Hilling-ton Hall, which was trapped and
afterwards stuffed by a farmer^ named Norman, some
fifty years ago.

At Riddles worth Hall a female bustard has been long
preserved, which Mr. Thornhill's father received from
Cavenham, in Suffolk. At West Hai-ling Hall are a
pair of bustards, which, though bought by the late Lord
Colborne as British specimens, were doubted by him to
be so. At Clermont Lodge, Norfolk, it is believed there
was until lately a stuffed bustard, which had probably
been preserved there from the late Lord Clermont's
time, and if so had doubtless been killed in the vicinity.

The collection of birds formerly belonging to the
Philosophical Society of Cambridge, and about two years
ago transferred to the University Museum, contains a
female bustard, which I am informed by the Eev. E.
Gwilt was obtained at Icklingham.^

The existence, at the present time, in good condition,
of the bird recorded by Mr. Lubbock in 1845 as taken

* This same collection also contains two other British bustards,
both killed in Cambridgeshire — one a male, supposed to be that
recorded by Mr. Jeuyns (" Man. Br. Vert. An.," p. 175) as shot
near Ickleton in January, 1831, the other a female, said to have
been killed at Littleport. The specimen stated by Yarrell and
others to have been killed near Caxton in December, 1832, and to
be preserved in the same museum, is a little bustard (Otis tetrax) !
(See Mr. H. Turner's note in " Mag. IsTat. Hist.," for 1833, p. 613 ;
and Mr. Jenyns's work already quoted, p. 176.) A bustard's egg
also in the collection was presented to the Philosophical Society in
March, 1831, by Mr. Bai-ron, as having been found in Cambridge-
shire.

38 BIKDS OF NORFOLK.

by greyhounds at Sprowston "some fifty or sixty years
back," is in itself a fact of no little interest; and
difficult as it has been to trace it in its many wanderings
from one collection to another, it has given me no little
satisfaction to discover it at last, where its value is so
fully appreciated, in the possession of Lord Sondes, at
Elmham. This specimen, a fine adult male, after its
capture by Sir Lambert Blackwell's greyhounds, was pre-
served at Easton Lodge, near Norwich, where Sir Lambert
then resided, and formed part of one of the oldest
collections of stuffed birds in Norfolk. Here it was seen
by Mr. Lubbock when a boy, as far back as the year
1809 or 1810, and was then in the possession of Sir
William Foster's father, to whom Sir Lambert Blackwell
had left the estate and the contents of his house.
Subsequently, as I am informed, the entire collection
was removed to the residence of the late E,ev. Lambert
B. Foster, at Brundall, by whom it was sold by auction,
on his ceasing to reside in Norfolk. At that time most
of the birds were in a very bad condition, and amongst
others this bustard required renovation, and was accord-
ingly sent to Knight, of Norwich, to be " done up " for
the next owner, the Rev. C. Humfrey, of Wroxham, who
afterwards presented it, as Lord Sondes mforms me, to
the Rev. Charles Penrice, of Plumstead Hall. On the
death of that gentleman, and the dispersion of his collec-
tion in 1857, when, as I have before stated, the chief
portion of his birds passed into my hands,^ this bustard
was presented by Major Penrice to Lady Sondes, and
after having been again carefully restored by the late
John Sayer, of Norwich, in whose shop 1 examined it,
was placed in its latest resting place at Elmham Hall.
At Helmingham Hall, Suffolk, there is a case of

* See vol. i., p. 311, note, whore this bird is, by mistake,
described as a female.

GREAT BUSTARD. 39

bustards, containing specimens, which, in all probability,
were killed in that county, but of their true history I
can leam nothing conclusive, althoug-h the late Lady
Middleton kindly interested herself in making enquiries
respecting them.*

Besides the eggs already mentioned in the Westacre
and Congham collections, Mr. Alfred Newton possesses
one of the eggs (two pairs and a single one) laid by
three females on Massingham-heath, in the spring of
1833, as before stated. This egg, as is shown by an
inscription on it in Mr. Salmon's handwriting, was
presented by him to the late Mr. John Wolley, and
was by the latter left, with the rest of his magnificent
oological collection, to Mr. Newton. Another of this
same series of eggs, from Massingham, was also in Mr.
Salmon's collection, bequeathed by bim to the Linnean
Society, but this, with many other of the rarer speci-
mens, disappeared in a mysterious manner before the
Society had been able to take possession of their valuable
legacy. It formed the subject of the figure in the last
edition (1866, pi. Ixxiii., fig. 1) of Mr. Hewitson's well
known work, and should it still be in existence, would
probably be recognisable by its portrait. ^

A second egg in Mr. Alfred Newton's possession is
marked " Great Massingham, Norfolk, probably about
1835 or 1836." The egg was purchased by Mr. Newton
of Mr. H. B. Eodwell, of Brancaster, who had received

* In a clever little work by the Rev. W. S. Symonds, entitled
" Old Bones," it is mentioned (p. 70, 2nd ed.) that the Worcester
Museum contains a pair of bustards " captured in Norfolk," and
presented by the present Lord Lyttleton. All the enquiries I have
been able to make have failed to furnish me with any further par-
ticulars respecting these specimens, except that they were stuffed
by "Weaver, of Birmingham, and given to the museum in 1849,
as I am informed by Mr. Eeece, the secretary and curator, who
believes that they were for some time in the late Lord Lyttleton's
possession.

40 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

it from his uncle, Mr. D'Urban Bljtli, of Weasenham,
who, in a letter written in 1856, states that " some years
since a bustard's nest was found at a farm adjoining
mine, and the two eggs it contained came into my pos-
session. One of them was, unfortunately, broken soon
afterwards ; the other I gave to my sister, Mrs. Rodwell,
for one of her nephews." In further confirmation of
the above, I may add the following note, very recently
received from the Eev. Thomas Fulcher, of Old Buck-
enham : — " Three or four eggs of the great bustard were
found at Oreat Massingham, Norfolk, on Mr. D'Urban
Blyth's farm, in the years 1834 and 1835. I saw one of
these eggs July 21st, 1837."

The egg figured in the first edition of Mr. Hewitson's
work (pi. Ixxxviii.)^ was j)resented to him by Mr. C. W.
Spurgeon, of Lynn, and was taken probably at Congham,
but certainly in the Swalfham country. It is now in
the collection of Mr. John Hancock, of ISTewcastle-on-
Tyne. Another egg, taken at the same time, is now in
the possession of Mr. C. Burlingham, of Lynn. They
.were both, as I learn through Mr. Southwell, obtained
about the year 1833 by Mr. Beck, of Congham.

Mr. Scales possesses one presented to him by the
late Rev. Robert Hamond, which was found in the
neighbourhood of Westacre.

A smgle egg in the possession of Mr. Coldham, of
Anmer, was taken many years back in Anmer field, but
the date is unknown ; and another in the Norwich
Museum, was presented, with other eggs, by the late
Mr. Salmon ; but, unfortunately, there is no inscription
upon it, nor any record in the "donation" book to fix
its locality.

Mr. H. J. Elwes, of the Scots Fusilier Guards,

* Part twenty-two containing this plate, was published July 1st,
1835 ; the first edition was not completed till 1838.

GREAT BUSTARD. 41

kindly informs me that lie lias a pair of bustards' eggs,
which were procured in Norfolk by his grandfather, Mr.
Elwes, of Congham, and Colesborne, about the year 1830,
for the Rev. J. Pitt, who subsequently presented them
to him. He believes them to have been taken on
Massingham heath.

A single egg in the possession of Mr. Clarke, of
North Wootton, has been satisfactorily established by
Mr. Southwell, as a genuine Norfolk specimen, although
its having been blown with two holes at the side,
according to modern custom, seemed to mark it as
of somewhat too recent date. This point has, however,
been fully explained, and other interesting particulars
respecting it obligingly communicated by Miss Charlotte
St. John, formerly of Gayton Hall, in this County,
who, in a letter to Mr. Southwell, remarks — " The egg
in question was given to me by the late Rev. Robert
Hamond, I should think about forty years ago. It was
found by him or his keeper Denny on Massingham
heath, and I have a better remembrance of it from the
circumstance that he sent it in a small beautifully-made
coffin about a foot long. The egg was inside, wrapped
up in cotton wool. I can easily explain the two holes
at the side. Mr. Hamond blew it himself and always
did so ; but I blew mine at the two ends, a point on
which we did not agree." This egg, therefore, formed
part of Miss St. John's collection, which she presented
about two years ago to the late Mrs. Barnes, of Gayton
Hall, at whose death it passed into the hands of Mr.
Clarke as above stated. It is scarcely possible, at this
distance of time, to ascertain the exact date when the
egg was taken, but if, as appears by no means improb-
able, the little coffin so quaintly employed by Mr.
Hamond as an egg shell, had some covert allusion to
the gradual extinction of the bustard in Norfolk, Miss
St. John is most likely correct in saying, that it was
" about forty years ago."

G

42 BTKDS OF NORFOLK.

The Eev. R. Gwilt, of Icklingham, Suffolk, informs
me that lie has two eggs, laid many years ago in that
once noted district, and that a third, from the same
locality, was presented some forty years since to Lady
Wilson, of Hampstead.

A third egg in Mr. Alfred Newton's possession was
bought by him in 1856, at the sale of Mr. Yarrell's
collection. It had been taken many years before, as
Mr. Yarrell once told Mr. Newton, somewhere near
Bury St. Edmund's.

The most beautiful representations of the bustard
are to be found in Mr. Wolf's " Zoological Sketches "
(1st Series, pi. 45) and Mr. Gould's " Birds of Great
Britain" (part 5.) In both cases the figures are drawn
from careful studies, by Mr. Wolf, of birds which have
been kept alive in the gardens of the Zoological Society,
and almost every posture assumed by the species is
admirably delineated by that greatest master of animal
portraiture.

OTIS TETEAX, Liimseus.

LITTLE BUSTARD.

Unlike the great bustard, whose history is almost
inseparably connected with that of the county, this
species would seem to have passed unnoticed by Norfolk
ornithologists until within the last forty or fifty years,
and though Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, in 1824,
recorded two specimens as having been killed in Suffolk
(one of them in November, 1804), they make no mention
of its occurrence on the Norfolk coast. As more
recent local authorities, also, content themselves with
stating that it " has appeared in several instances," I
am obliged to seek for the particulars of such specimens
from other and private sources. The earliest of which

LITTLE BUSTARD. 43

I have any evidence is a bird in the collection of Lord
Sondes, at Elnihani Hall, which, as his Lordship has
kindly informed me, was shot by his gamekeeper on
some fenny land at Elmham, about the year 1822 or
1823. It is in full winter plumage, but the sex was
not noted at the time.

Next, probably, in order of date are the two supposed
females (Nos. 185a and 185b) in the Norwich museum,
of which the first, as shown by the donation book, was
presented by Mr. William Primrose in 1847. Tliis one
is stated to have been killed at Trunch, but although
the exact period of its capture is unknown, it is most
likely, from its being already stuffed and " cased up"
when placed in the museum, that it was procui-ed some
time prior to that event. The second, presented by the
late Mr. Sparshall, in 1843, was shot in a turnip field
at Hellesdon, near Norwich; in 1835, according to an
entry in the donation book, but in Mr. Lombe's"^ MS.
notes the date of this specimen is given as December
3rd, 1833, which I have reason to believe is the more
correct. Mr. Gurney remembers this bird in the posses-
sion of Mr. Sparshall, for some years before it was
deposited in the museum collection.

About the year 1836, as recorded in Mr. Dowell's
note book, a Little Bustard was killed at Morston, near
Blakeney, by Mr. Wood, which is said to have been
presented to the British museum ; and, in reply to my
enquiries, Mr. W. G. Wood, jun., furnished me with the
following additional particulars : — " It was shot by my
father more than thirty years ago. I think it was a female.
Major Loftus had it, as he then hired both the Stiffkey
and Morston shooting; it was killed in autumn." I have

* There are two fine specimens, male and female, in Mr. Lombe's
collection, but no record exists as to the localities from whence he
obtained them.
G 2

44 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

been unable to trace this specimen, but it evidently did
not, as above stated, find its way into tbe national collec-
tion. Mr. G. R. Gray, of the British museum, has very
obligingly searched the records of donations about
that period, and can find no reference to it, but,
singularly enough, as will be seen by that gentleman's
" Catalogue,"^ one of the only two examples of the
little bustard amongst the '' British Birds " in that
collection, is entered as killed in Norfolk. This one, a
male in full summer plumage, cannot be confounded in
any way with Mr. Wood's specimen obtained in the
autumn, and is moreover known to have been purchased
at the sale of Mr. Bullock's celebrated museum. In an
annotated copy of Bullock's sale Catalogue, in the posses-
sion of Mr. A. Newton, I find (page 27) the following
entry : — *' Little Bustard, Otis tetrax, (male) extremely
rare," to which the former owner of the catalogue (Mr.
George Caley) has added in writing, " killed in Britain,"
with *^Dr. Leach" as the name of the buyer, and £10
as the price. Dr. Leach, at that time, was keeper of the
Zoological department of the British museum, but it will
be noticed that in this entry no mention is made as to
the precise locality, nor can I ascertain when, or on what
authority, the bird was first ticketed "Norfolk." From
the fact, however, that in every other known instance,
this species has occurred on our coast late in autumn
or during the winter months (a rule which pertains in
other covinties as well, according to Yarrell, who adds,
'^the male has never been killed here in the plumage
assumed during the breeding season that I am aware
of"), I am inclined to believe that this, after all, is no
exception, and, even if " killed in Britain," that Norfolk
cannot fairly reckon it amongst its local rarities.

* " Catalogue of the British Birds in the collection of the
British museum." By George Robert Gray, F.L.S., &c., 1863, p. 134.

LITTLE BUSTAKD. 45

In November, 1838, as I am informed by the Rev.
Thomas Fulcher, a fine female in his possession was
shot in a turnip-field, at Old Buckenham ; and on the
21st of January, 1842, as I learn from Mr. Foster, of
Wisbech, another female (as ascertained by dissection)
was shot on one of the washes, near Welney, on the
extreme western limits of the county. This bird, the
one referred to by Mr. Lubbock as killed near Wisbech,
is now in the museum of that town.

For the next ten years, I know of no other occur-
rence of this species either in Norfolk or Suffolk, but on
the 29th of December, 1853,"^ a male in winter plumage,
now in my possession, was shot during very severe
weather, in a turnip-field, by the road side between
Winterton and Yarmouth. This bird, which was
brought to me in the flesh, was in good condition,
the stomach literally crammed with vegetable matter,
apparently fragments of some large leaf with a rough
surface and a serrated edge. Several others were also
killed about the same time in different counties in
England, as recorded in the " Zoologist" for 1854.

Again, on the 4th of March, 1858, a fine adult
female, which was purchased by Mr. J. H. Gurney, was
shot in the Southtown marshes, at Gorleston, near
Yarmouth. This bird was also in fine condition, the
stomach filled with various kinds of green food, by far
the larger portion consisting of a long fine grass,
apparently from the marshes, having a brackish odour,
and mixed with this, and matted together, was a species
of Conferva from the ditches. Two flowers of the
common daisy (Bellis perennisj were plainly discernable,
as also a narrow scolloped leaf, resembling cat's-ear
(Hypochoeris glabra), and besides these a small fragment
of the water-ranunculus (Ranunculus aquatilisj, were all

* The same recorded by Morris (" British Birds," vol. iv., p. 8.)

46 BIKDS OF NORFOLK.

tliat could be identified. The eggs in tlie ovaries, about
the size of pins' heads, were easily distinguishable,
being perfectly white. The weather, as in the previous
instance, was intensely cold at the time, with snow on
the ground.

To the Eev. C. W. Bagot, of Castle Rising, I am
indebted for the notice of a specimen in his posses-
sion, which was killed in that neighbourhood early in
the autumn of 1860. The sex of this bird, which was
stuffed by Mr. Baker, of Downham, was not noted at the
time, but, like most of the specimens obtained in this
county, it was killed in a turnip-field, by a gamekeeper,
who mistook it, as it rose, for a young guinea-fowl. On
November 29th of the same year another, which proved
to be a female, was also killed in a turnip-field, at
Norton Subcorse, near Loddon,^ and was preserved by
Knight of Norwich, for Mr. J. Wigg of that place. In
the latter instance, although appearing during some-
what mild weather, this straggler preceded only by a
week or two the intensely severe frosts of the two
following months, during which time two others occurred
in the adjoining counties of Suffolk and Essex.

Last in the list to the present time, is a specimen
killed at Thetford, for the knowledge of which and the
following particulars respecting it, I am indebted to my
friend Mr. John Flower, of Croydon : — *' It was first
seen in a field adjoining Mr. Bartlett's land, about
Christmas, 1861. It was shot at by some one from
Thetford, and missed. It then went on to the warren,
a bare tract of land of about three thousand acres,
where it was caught in a rabbit-trap. Mr. Bartlett had
it stuffed and gave it to his father-in-law, Mr. Fuller, of
Beachamwell, at whose death, a year or two ago, it

* N^ot Eeedham, as erroneously stated by myself in the
"Zoologist," p. 7315.

LITTLE BUSTARD. 47

again passed into Mr. Bartlett's possession. The sex of
this specimen was not ascertained, but like the rest it
is of course in winter plumage. The river Thet being
the boundary between the two counties, this bird was in
point of fact killed in Suffolk, but having wandered
from place to place before its capture, it certainly
deserves notice in the present work.

After recording such a series of local specimezis, one
may safely class the little bustard amongst those rarer
migrants, which can be confidently looked for from time
to time, and, from the regularity of its appearance
during certain months of the year only, it may be
reckoned as an occasional winter visitant. Whether
occurring, also, as early as September or as late as
March, the severity of the season seems, in most cases,
to have accounted for the appearance of this species,
driven at the same time by contrary winds thus far
to the westward of its ordinary course. Whether males
or females actually predominate it is impossible to
determine, since only in three instances have we the
actual test of dissection, viz., in the Wisbech, Mr.
Gurney's, and my own specimen. But on comparing
my male bird with Mr. Grurney's female, both in full
winter plumage, I find the only perceptible difference is.
in the depth of colouring generally. In the hen bird, all
the darker markings are more defined, the margins to the
feathers on the throat and breast, the bars on the tail,
and the spots on the flanks, being broader and deeper in
tint, than in my own specimen."^ At the same time,
there is far less difference between my bird and the
supposed females in the Norwich museum (the Trunch

* I have lately examined two specimens of the little bustard,
in the University Museum at Cambridge, both marked females,
and in winter plumage, one of which is identical in colour and
markings with my own, and presents, I imagine, the ordinary
plumage of the young male in its first autumn.

48 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

bird more particularly), which, after all may have been
described as females under the impression that a far
greater sexual difference existed during the winter
season.

The little bustard breeds abundantly in some parts
of France, but in Germany, singularly enough, it is
only known, as in our own country, as an annual winter
visitant, though irregular in the time and place of its
occurrence.

CURSORIUS EUROP^US, Latham.

CREAM-COLOUEED COURSER.

This very rare straggler, from more southern climes,
has not hitherto been included amongst our accidental
visitants, but having been killed once in the adjoining
county,* and observed on two separate occasions in

* In the " Magazine of ISfatural History " for 1831 (vol. iv.,
p. 163), in "A list of scarce birds killed in Suffolk since the autumn
of 1827, sent as addenda to the list of Mr. J. D. Hoy, of Stoke-
by-Nayland (vol. iii., p. 436)," Mr. Edward Acton, of Grundis-
burgh, states that a bird of this species was " shot at Freston, near
Aldborough, on October 3rd, 1828, by a shepherd of the name of
Smith," and this specimen is believed by Dr. Bree (" Field," 1867,
vol. XXX., p. 465) to be the one preserved in the late Mr. Hoy's collec-
tion, at Boile's court, near Brentwood, the case containing Mr.
Hoy's bird, being labelled, "shot in 1828." This example is not
mentioned by Yarrell, but in the five instances given by that
author of the occurrence of the cream-coloured courser in England
— one in East Kent, which is now in the British museum, and was
figured and described by Latham in the first supplement to his
"General Synopsis of Birds" (pi. 116, p. 264), published in 1787,
and said (see " Zool. Jour.," iii., p. 493, and " Naturalist, " 1837, vol.,
i., p. 133) to have been purchased subsequently by Donovan for
eighty-three guineas ; one in North Wales in 1793 ; one at Wetherby

CREAM-COLOURED COURSER. 49

Norfolk by very reliable witnesses, I think it may be
now fairly included in tbe present list. The first inti-
mation of the probability of this bird having appeared
on our coast was given me by the Eev. E. W. Do well,
who wi'ites, " in the autumn of 1847, Mr. Wood, of
Morston, near Blakeney, told me that there was a strange
bird frequenting his fields, something like a plover, which
ran very fast. He had seen it for several days, and it
appeared very tame, but, although I went after it at once,
of course it was gone. From Mr. Wood's description, I
had no difficulty in recognising this bird as the Cream-
coloured Courser." To this statement I may add that
Mr. Wood is well acquainted with all the ordinary forms
of plover, Tringce, and other shore-birds frequenting
that portion of the coast, and but for some marked
peculiarity in this instance would not have informed
Mr. Dowell of the supposed rarity. Still more recently
Mr. Anthony Hamond, jun., pointed out to me a field
near the roadside, at Westacre, in which a bird, exactly
answering the description of the cream-coloured courser,
was seen both by himself and his father on several
occasions, as they drove past. This was in the autumn
of 1855 or 1856, but from a recent fall out hunting, he
was unable to go after it with his gun, and his father.

in April, 1816 ; one in Leicestershire in October, 1827 ; and one on
Eastdown, Salisbury Plain, in October, 1855 ; as well as those
since recorded — two seen and one killed, at Braunton, in Devon-
shire, October, 1856 (" Zool.," 5346), one killed in Hackney marshes,
October 19th, 1857 ("Zool.," 6309); and one near Maryport,
October, 1864 (" Zool.," 9418) — it is worthy of note that, although
said to be a scarce migrant even in the south of Europe, this
species has appeared less frequently (including the two ]S"orfolk
examples), in the south of England, than in counties further to the
north. In every instance but one (April), also, where the date is
known, this species has occurred in autumn, not less than six
having been seen or killed in October.
H

50 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

therefore, at last tried a chance shot at it from their
vehicle, when the bird, though badly hit, flew too far for
them to mark it down, and was never seen again. It
was generally observed in company with a few peewits,
frequenting the same spot, and after carefully watching
it once or twice, within easy range, and afterwards
consulting the figiu-es in Yarrell and other authors, no
doubt whatever existed in their minds as to the identity
of the species.

So httle is really known as to the true habitat of this
rare migrant that I do not hesitate to supplement my
present notice of it with an extract from a paper on
*' Recent discoveries in European Oology," pubhshed by
Mr. Hewitson in the " Ibis " for 1859 (vol. i., p. 79) :^—
" For the discovery of its eggs," writes Mr. Hewitson,
" ornithologists are indebted to the Rev. H. B. Tristram,
who has kindly sent me the following notes : ' Although
during the winter of 1856-57 I penetrated several
hundred miles into the Algerian Sahara, and beyond
its limits as far as between latitude 31 ^ and 30^, yet
this bird only once came under my observation, being
evidently for the most part only a summer migrant to
those regions. In the month of June, 1857, I twice met
with small flocks of them on the hauts plateaux between
Biskra and Batna, to the south of Constantine. During
the previous summer of 1856, I had met with the bird
several times in the western Sahara, north of Laghouat,
and especially in the neighbourhood of A in Oosera, a
solitary caravansary in the desert kept up by the French
government as a military halting-place. Though certain
that the birds were breeding there at the time, I was
unable to detect their nests ; but shortly after my

* See also Mr. Osbert Salvin's remarks on this species, as
observed by him in the Eastern Atlas, near Constantine, " Ibis,"
1859, p. 354.

STONE-CURLEW. 61

departure, tlie keeper of the caravansary, who had
assisted ine in my search, and who had in previous
years frequently taken the eggs, and cooked them as
omelets along with those of the Pterocles setarius, found
the nest and sent me the eggs, three in number.
According to his account, the courser always adheres
to this number, as indeed might have been expected
from the character of the bird. It makes no nest what-
ever, but deposits its eggs on the bare soil in the most
arid plains.' "

Since the above dates, however, several collectors in
this country have received eggs from Algeria and
Morocco.

(EDICNEMUS CREPITANS, Temm.

STONE-CUELEW.

The Great Plover, Stone-Curlew or " Culloo" as the
name is locally pronounced, has also a special claim to
its title of " Norfolk" plover (independently of its former
abundance in this county), inasmuch as this bird appears
to have been first made known, in a graphic form,* to
British ornithologists by Sir Thomas Browne, who
about the year 1674 forwarded a drawing of it to the

* The first mention of this bird as British is by Christopher
Merrett inhis"Pinax Eerum Naturalium," Londini: 1667, 8vo.,
pp. 224, wherein we find (p. 182) as follows : — " Arquata congener,
a stone-curliew huic rostrum breve, accipitrinum [!], pennae milvi,
Phasiano par magnitudine, Dilicatissim£e avis ex agro Hantoniensi,
Ds. Hutcldnson, Ornithopola Londinensis." Stone-curlew is, of
course, by far the oldest English name for the European " thicknee,"
and as we have evidence of its use both in Hampshu'e and Noi'folk
for two hundred years, it is much to be regretted that it has not
been generally adopted by all British ornithologists.
H 2

62 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

celebrated John Ray, taken from a specimen killed near
Thetford,"^ and from which no doubt the figure in
Willughby's "Ornithology" (Tab. Ixxvii.) was engraved.
Sir Thomas also, in his list of Norfolk birds, describes
this species as " a handsome tall bird remarkably eyed,
and with a bill not above two inches long, commonly
called a stone-curlew, but the note thereof more
resembles that of a green plover, and breeds about
Thetford, about the stones and shingles of the river."
But although at that time, as at the present day, this
species was most numerous in the western and south-

* I am greatly indebted to the Eev. H. B. Tristram for the sight
of a very scarce little work, entitled — " A Collection of English
Words not generally used. * * * With Catalogues of English
Birds and Fishes. By John Ray, Fellow of the Eoyal Society."
London, 1674, 8vo., pp. 178. In the preface, with reference to the
"catalogue of English birds," occurs the following passage: — "Since
this catalogue was sent away to the press, among some pictures of
birds which I have received from the learned and deservedly
famous Sir Thomas Browne, of ISToi-wich, I find two or three English
birds by me omitted, as whereof I was not certain. CEdicnemus
Bellonii by him also first observed in England. Upon the picture
of it sent to me by Sir Thomas, I find inscribed ' a stone-curlew,
from about Thetford, whereabouts they breed. It hath a remark-
able eye and note somewhat like a green plover.' " In Ray's
preface to Willughby's " Ornithology," Sir Thomas's contributions
are also duly acknowledged, but from the following extract from a
letter of that learned physician to his son Edward, dated March
28th, 1682 (see Wilkin's edition of his works, vol. i., p. 337), we
find the former complaining of the unnecessary detention of his
drawings : — " When Mr. Ray (he writes) was to print his omi-
thologie or description of birds, I lent him many draughts of birds
in colours, which I had caused at times to bee drawne, and hee and
Sir Phillip Skippon promised mee that they should bo safely
returned ; butt I have not since received them. Butt they wei*e
left in Mr. Martyn's hands, therefore present my services unto Mr.
Martyn (bookseller, at the bell, St. Paul's churchyard), and desire
him from mee, to deliver the same unto you, and I shall rest
satisfied."

STONE-CURLEW. 63

western parts of the county, yet judging from the
localities in which a few scattered pairs are still met
with, during the breeding season, m the neighbourhood
of Norwich, it seems strange that Sir Thomas should
not have obtained a specimen, for his purpose, much
nearer home.

Like its big cousin the great bustard, though by
no means in the same degree, the stone-curlew, even
as a summer visitant, has been affected by those
vast agricultural changes which, dating back from the
commencement of the present century, have changed
so materially the general aspect of the country and con-
tracted everywhere the boundaries of the heath and the
fen. As a gTound breeder, also, its eggs are peculiarly
liable to accident, and this, combined with the wholesale
system of egging pursued of late years, might alone ac-
count for the diminution of a species which, laying only
two eggs at a time, is necessarily limited in its powers of
reproduction. Compared, however, with the wild open
tracts of the "Breck" district, the eastern side of the
county can at no time have possessed the same amount
of attraction for these birds, as even the former locality
continues to afford; whilst the enclosure, on all sides,
of heaths and commons, and the rapid growth of planta-
tions on our once bleak soils, is fast depriving them, both
towards the north and east, of the few haunts once
favourable to their retiring habits.

In the immediate neighboui'hood of Norwich, as at
Costessy, Easton, and Bowthorpe, the stone-curlew, mitil
within the last twenty or five and twenty years, bred
regularly on the higher grounds, frequenting for that
purpose certain large open fields, to which even here the
term " Breck " is not uncommonly applied, whilst at
Thorpe one or two pairs are still met with every spring.
Tracing out, however, on the map, the localities from
whence I have known either birds or eggs procured

54 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

during tlie last few years in East Norfolk, this species
would seem, at the present time, to be confined almost
entirely to the wild hilly country lying to th.e westward
of Cromer, within the " Cliff" district, and that still
extensive, though not continuous, line of heaths and
common lands, which, commencing about Rackheath,
Household and Thorpe, to the north of this city,
proceeds in a north-westerly direction till it joins on to
the former tract again about Hempstead and Holt. Here,
and more particularly at Hemj^stead, as my friend Mr.
Edwards informs me, they were extremely numerous
some thirty years ago, when a large extent of young
plantations afforded both food and shelter* amongst the
young trees, and whence these birds might be flushed in
flocks of from forty to fifty at a time at the close of the
breeding season. Although difficult enough of approach
in their usually open hamits, it was easy enough under
these circumstances, to obtain shots at them, by sending
one gun forward to the end of the planting, and many
were, no doubt, killed in this manner when little thought
. was given to their eventual scarcity. The system of
egging, also, as then pursued, could not fail in some
degree to show its effects, but the gradual though

* Mr. Lubbock particularly mentions tbe partiality of this
species for recently formed coverts, remarking that " the greatest
allurement to them is an extensive new plantation made in the
open country, and on the improved plan of double trenching
the soil. The loosened ground affords better means of obtaining
worms and beetles, then- usual food, and the birds appear par-
ticularly to delight in the partial concealment which the young
trees afford in the first year or two ; as soon as the trees attain any
size all attraction ceases." In the spring of 1867, when driving
with Mr. Anthony Hamond, jun., through a roadway dividing
a recently formed plantation, adjoining Mr. Elwes's residence at
Congham, we disturbed a pair of these birds, which ran on for
some distance, but at last rose and alighted again amongst the
dwarf fir-trees.

STONE-CURLEW. 55

certain decrease in their numbers, is attributable mainly,
no doubt, to the altered character of the locahty when
those young trees had lost their attractions, and de-
veloped into extensive and thickly planted woods. Yet
to show the extraordinary attachment of these curlews
to theu' accustomed breeding grounds, Mr. Hewitson
("Brit. Bds.' Eggs," 3rd ed.), on the authority of Mr.
Alfred Newton, states that " a particular spot where a
pair of birds of this species had been accustomed to
breed was resorted to by them for that purpose, long
after it, and many acres around it, were planted with
trees, and had become the centre of a flourishing
wood."^

Once or twice, within the last four or five years, I
have seen small flights of stone-curlews between Sher-
ringham and Salthouse, during the months of June and
July ; and Mr. T. W. Cremer, of Beeston, near Cromer,
informs me that a pair or two have hitherto bred, yearly,
on some furze-covered hills at the back of his residence,
where the poor of the parish have rights of commonage,
but having neither heard nor seen them during the
past summer (1867), he is doubtful whether they still
continue to do so. About four years ago the Rev. C.
Norris, of Briston, had eggs of this plover, taken on
some rough ground not far from his house, but states
that they have ceased for some time to breed on Briston-
common, now about to be enclosed. A young bird was,
however, taken in the summer of 1867, in the vicinity
of Holt, about three miles from Briston ; and a couple
of eggs said to have been found at Cawston, near
Aylsham, were shown me in the spring ; and an adult
bird and eggs from Witchingham. In August of the

* Mr. Newton lias since told me that this took place in the
warren-covert at Elveden, which extends over more than three
hundred acres.

56 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

same year, a female was shot at Racklieath ; and in
September a male at East TuddenharaL ; and on the
11th of October I was shown one said to have been
run down in the vicinity of Norwich, which, most pro-
bably, came from Thorpe, as, on the 2nd of August,
1866, a specimen was also killed near this city, and one
in the following month on the Rackheath estate,

Mr. Charles Jecks, of the Woodlands, Thorpe,
informs me that for more than twenty years he has
known a pair or two return in the spring to the same
portions of that elevated plateau, where the stony soil is
well suited to their habits. For several seasons they have
bred, by the side of a plantation, within two hundred
yards of his house, and having a. naturalist's relish for
their wild musical " clamour" at night, he takes every
precaution to prevent their being disturbed. In the
summer of 1866, young ones were hatched early in May,
but as soon as these are able to fly, old and young
together quit that neighbourhood, and, wandering in
search of food beyond those friendly boundaries, too
often lose one or more of their party, by a chance shot,
before the time for migration arrives. Any how their
numbers have never increased.

Mr. Lubbock, in a recent letter from Eccles, near
Attleburgh, says, "In my vicinity the great-plover is
following the bustard. Twenty years back I could hear
them every summer evening from my parlour when the
window was open. I have seen only one in the parish
for the last four years." Passing, on, however, further
to the south and west of the county, we come at once to
the " Breck " district, which from time immemorial
has been their chief resort, and where in many places
they still remain plentiful, although elsewhere agricul-
tural and other changes have had their effects. The
latter is more particularly observable in the neigh-
bourhood of Swaffham, where of late years they

1^

^^

\u ♦ i -iS

o

STONE-CUELEW. 57

have diminislied considerably, but a few still breed
annually about Westacre, Congbam, and Lexham ; and
their eggs liave been taken recently near Cressingbam
and Watton. At West Harling, though not in their
former abundance, Mr. Ringer informs me that he has
the last year or two met with from fifteen to twenty in a
flock, frequenting the turnip-fields in the early autumn ;
and this, in spite of the great extent of wood that has
grown up on all sides in that district. From Thetford,
their main stronghold,'^ as in days gone by, Mr. Bartlett
writes, " I do not think the stone-curlew has decreased
since I have been here, some twenty years. I see as
many as ever, but plantations have got up in the
neighbourhood year by year, tending to take from
its wildness, and so diminish both the curlew and
ring-dotterel. On my warren they are quite as numer-
ous, when the season is favourable, but its bleakness
is imdiminished." From the Feltwell country, also,
I hear the same satisfactory accomit from my friend
Mr. Newcome, who states that in the autumn of 1867
he saw about a hundred and fifty in one flock on his
own estate. From these facts, then, we may conclude
that if, on the eastern side of the county the stone-
curlew, in a few years time, should cease to be reckoned
amongst our summer visitants, there is little fear that
as regards the southern and western portions, its pre-
sence in summer will still enhven the waste for many
generations to come.

* Mr. Hewitson is quite in error as to the position of this
district, when alluding ("Brit. Bds.' Eggs," 3rd ed.) to the
abundance of the stone-curlew in Norfolk and Suffolk, he says,
" It breeds upon the extensive sandy flats, ivliich chiefly border upon
tlie sea-shore." The flat sandy borders of the Wash, are not, nor
do I think ever were, frequented by this species, which prefers a
more hilly country ; and Thetford warren, though many miles
inland, has attractions not only for the great-plover, but for its
more marine relative, the ring-dotterel (Gharadrius hiaticula.J
I

58 BIKD8 OF NORFOLK.

The arrival of these birds in spring occurs generally
abont the second week in April, when an occasional
straggler may be found on the sea-shore, as on April
17th, 1866, when a single stone-curlew was shot on
Yarmouth beach. In that neighbourhood, however,
as stated by the Messrs. Paget, it is but rarely met
vdth. There is no " nest," but the two eggs are laid on
the bare ground, which, being of a light nature, becomes
worn into a shallow depression by the movements of
the sitting bird; and so much do the general tints of
the eggs assimilate to those of the sandy soil aromid
that the novice finds as much difficulty in detecting
them as those of the ring-dotterel on a shingly beach.
The eggs vary extremely in the disposition and colour
of their markings, as shown by the three examples
figured by Hewitson (" Brit. Bds.' Eggs," 3rd ed.), two
taken from specimens in the late Mr. Salmon's collec-
tion ; and a third from that of Mr. Alfred Newton,
who possesses a wonderful series from the Thetford
country, which exhibits very many beautiful and unu-
sual varieties. Both parents would seem to share in
the work of incubation, as Mr. Salmon on one occasion
ascertained, by dissection, that several birds snared on
their nests durmg the day time were all males. Whether,
if undisturbed, they have more than one brood in the
season I am unable to say, but if the first nest is robbed
other eggs will be met with in a fresh state, up to a
very late period, as, on the 11th of September, 1851,
Mr. Dowell and Mr. Lubbock, when shooting at Harlmg,
fomid two eggs of the stone-curlew, the old birds rising
not far off; and on the 9th of October the parents were
seen again, but the eggs had been taken. The yomig
in their first down are pretty little creatures, and, when
squatting to avoid detection, are as difficult to find
as the eggs. They follow their parents in search of
food, almost from their birth, hiding amongst the loose
stones on the least appearance of danger, and a very

STONE-CURLEW. 59

marked attachment exists between old and yomig, of
wliich Mr. Lubbock, in his "Fauna," gives a curious
instance. An old bird, which had been shot at and
sHg'htly wounded in the pinion, having been turned
loose into a walled-in garden, became exceedingly
clamorous at sunrise, the following morning, and thus
attracted a young one to the place of its confinement.
This, after some difficulty, was also captured, and
exhibited the greatest satisfaction at regaining its
parent, seemingly quite indifferent to its own liberty.
In June and July old and young together are frequently
flushed from the turnips in the vicinity of their breeding
grounds, and previous to their departure in October they
collect together in considerable numbers; in some places,
as before stated, amounting to over a hundred in a flock,
and in former times probably as many more. Although
the main body, however, leave us thus early in the
autumn, stragglers are not unfrequently observed during
the winter months, and at times, when the mildness of
the season can in no way be alleged as the cause of
their remaining so late. Mr. Salmon, in his notes on
this species ("Mag. Nat. Hist.," 1836, p. 524), alluding
to their usual departure in October, remarks — " Should
the weather continue open a few will remain to a much
later period," and instances his having " started one as
late as the 9th of December, in the autumn of 1834."
Mr. Lubbock also says, "It stays very late before it
migrates ; in mild seasons to the very end of November,
and even into December." On the 15th of December,
1846, as recorded by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher ("Zoolo-
gist," 1847, p. 1601), a single bird was killed at Ludham,
and the following instances have since come under my
own notice : —

1851. On December 4th, during severe frost and
snow, a great-plover, in good condition, was shot at
Potter Heigham.
i2

60 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

1852. On February 3rd, weather mild at the time,
another bird, shot near Cromer, was shown me in the
flesh.

1853. On February 2nd, during frost and snow, a
pair were killed at Yoxford, in Suffolk ; and Mr. L. H.
Irby records in the "Zoologist" for this year (p. 3909),
the occurrence of a pair at Thetford, early in March,
with deep snow on the ground at the time.

1857. On December 5th, a young bird was caught
alive at Hellesdon ; weather mild.

1861. On November 11th, one was kiUed out of a
small flock at Horsford, severe frost having set m on
the 1st, with snow on the ground.

1864. On November 3rd, weather open, an adult
bird was shot at Great Melton, near Wymondham.

1867. On December 18th, one was seen by Mr. J. H.
Gurney in Leadenhall market, which had been sent up,
with other birds, from the neighbourhood of Yarmouth.

From the above cases, then, it appears that, quite
irrespective of atmospheric influences, individuals of this
species occasionally remain with us throughout the
winter ; for it seems more reasonable to suppose that
birds, killed during severe frosts, in the month of
February,* had never attempted to migrate, than that

* Montagu, in the " Supplement" to his " Ornithological Dic-
tionary," gives an instance of a Norfolk plover having been killed
in South Devon, in the beginning of February, 1807; whilst
another was shot near the same place, about a fortnight before,
in that " unusually mild winter." GUbert White also states that
this species was heard to pipe on the 27th of February, 1788,
and that others were heard passing over head, by night, on
the 1st of March. The regular occurrence of this bird during the
winter months, in Cornwall, though unknown in that county in
summer, has been several times specially noticed by Mr. E. H,
Rodd in the " Zoologist" for 1845 (p. 876), 1848 (p. 2023), and 1866
(p. 34) ; as well as by a correspondent in the " Field" of January
19th, 1867. In the latter publication, also, under date of January

STONE-CURLEW. 61

they should return northward, in such weather, at an
Tinusually early period.

My own opportunities of observing this species have
been somewhat limited, but in May, 1864, in company
with my friend Mr. Dix (who, as a resident at that time
at West Harling, was well acquainted with their haunts),
I had every facility, with the help of a good glass, for
studying their habits in a wild state. In that neigh-
bourhood, on the open " Brecks," the eggs are usually
laid on some sHghtly rising ground, whence a good look
out is kept, and where it is almost impossible to come
upon the birds by surprise. If the exact spot is known,
long before any near approach can be made, the old bird
may be seen to rise slowly to its feet, and with arched
back, hke a French partridge, walk slowly off for a few
yards, when, if further pressed, the pace quickens, and
joined probably by its mate, from you know not where
— so like are their tints to the surrounding soil — the pair
rise on the wing, and with a strong quick flight, and
outstretched legs, betake themselves to some distant part
of the field, uttering at intervals their loud tremulous
whistle. As ground-breeders they are necessarily ex-
posed to many dangers, their eggs being so generally
taken when discovered, and though carrion-crows are
scarce in this game-preserving county, the rooks,
especially in dry seasons, are scarcely less active as
egg stealers. In this respect Mr. Dix considers that
the eggs are safer when laid in the middle of a wide
open field, than, as is often the case, when situated
within some fifty yards of a large fir " slip" or planta-

12th, 1867, a single bird is recorded as having been kUled at Char-
mouth, Dorset, on the 4th. To these may be added the still more
strange occurrence of a solitary specimen in Fifeshire, on the 27tb,
of January, 1858, as stated by Mr. W. P. Turnbull in his " Birds
of East Lothian," which, according to that author, is the only one
known to have appeared in that locality.

62 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

tion.'^ In tlie former case lie lias known tlie curlew figiit
off the rook wlieii suspiciously approaching its treasures ;
on the other hand the rook, quietly perched on the trees,
watches the curlew leave her nest, and at once descends
to plunder it. The shepherds, when driving their
sheep on to the lands, always mark the spot where the
curlew rises, and, by her alertness or not in doing so,
judge whether the eggs are fresh or set upon. Nearly
all the eggs Mr. Dis has had brought to him at different
times have been taken in this way by the shepherds or.
their lads, but when a single sheep has approached too
near to a nest he has seen the old bird flutter its wings,
and thus, by menacing attitudes, attempt to drive off
the intruder.

Unless sought for, or come upon accidentally in their
wild haunts, these birds are but rarely heard or seen
during the day, but towards evening they become ex-
ceedingly clamorous, and as nocturnal feeders chiefly,
as evidenced by the large prominent eye,t their loud

* On the 16tli of May, 1867, Mr. Anthony Hamond, jnn., pointed
out to me a nest with two eggs, placed within about fifty or sixty
yards of a plantation, which bordered one side of a large field at
Westacre. The birds ran off on our approach, and were soon lost
sight of amongst the underwood.

f Thompson, in his " Birds of Ireland " (vol. ii., p. 83), states
that a great plover, in the gardens of the Zoological Society, in
London, greatly interested him, on various occasions, by its always
remaining " fixed as a statu©," so long as he had patience to return
its gaze, and this in whatever attitude it chanced to be when
his eye and the bird's first met. "I tried it," he says, "from
different sides of the aviary, and found its performance the same
from all. The earnestly fixed gaze of its large and prominent dark
eye had a very singular efiect." And this, no doubt, is its habit in
a wild state, when, standing sentinel, as it were, on some slight
elevation, it looks out far and near over its desert home, since,
motionless as a statue, and in colour assimilating so closely to the
soil, it may easily escai^o detection, by even a good observer. The
chief peculiarity of this custom of the curlew is that the bird

STOISTE -CURLEW. 63

vibratory wliistle may be heard at all lioiirs of the night.
By moonlight their cries become even more incessant,
and amongst many treasured recollections of rural sights
and sounds, is the delight with which, on the 21st of
May, 1864, I first heard them, at West Harling, under
circumstances peculiarly favourable to a lasting impres-
sion, for

" Summer was the time, and sweet the hour."
when, long after midnight, I still sat listening at my
open window as, borne on the soft breeze from the neigh-
bouring ^^Breck" lands, their tremulous notes blended
with the wail of the lapwing ; and, in strange contrast
to such wild melody, the rich soft notes of the night-
ingale came up from the garden, whilst the air was
filled with the scent of the honeysuckle, and paths,
shrubs, and buildings, shone white in the reflection of
the full moon.

"Whether or not these birds, as stated by some
authors, leave the uplands towards evening, and seek
food and water in the low meadows, I cannot say, but
in this instance, undoubtedly, the cries of the curlews
came from the same lands where I had observed them
during the day. Besides insects, chiefly Goleoptera,
they are said to feed on snails, slugs, and worms ;^ and
Messrs. Gurney and Fisher mention the forceps of
several earwigs, as found by them in the stomach of
one specimen. Another dissected lately by Mr. T. E.
Gunn, contained some fibrous matter, mixed with frag-
ments of coleopterous insects, and a few small pebbles.

always faces the spectator, and presents the smallest surface to
his eye. To follow the movements of the intruder, the bird moves
its feet very rapidly, not altering its relative position, but just as
the " pivot man" of a hne of soldiers does.

* Mr. Newcome tells me that the warreners say that when
they find the cui-lew caught in traps, they also find frogs which
they have " spued up."

64 . BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

The late Mr. J. D. Hoy, in a letter to Mr. Yarrell,
alluding to the abundance of this species on the sandy
plains of Norfolk, remarks, ^^ great numbers have been
caught in most seasons by the subscription heron hawks,
at Didlington Hall; they have been known to take
refuge in a rabbit-burrow when pursued by the hawk."
But, as compared with the common curlew (Numenms
arquata), the great plover is described by the authors
of " Falconry in the British Isles " (p. 6Q) as reluctant
to "• take the air," and usually showing but little sport.

GLAREOLA TORQUATA, Meyer.
COLLAEED PRATINCOLE.

This rare straggler is recorded as having occurred
several times in this county, but I have been unable to
ascertain authentic particulars of more than three or,
at most, four sj^ecimens.

In the month of May, 1827,* as stated by the Messrs.
Paget, a pair of Pratincoles were shot on Breydon-

* In a letter, written by Mr. J. D. Hoy to the late Mr.
Selby, publisliod by Dr. Bree in the " Field" of November 9th, 1867
(p. 385), with other interesting particulars respecting Mr. Hoy's
collection, the following very singular passage occurs with refer-
ence to this species : — " On the 20th of May, 1827, a pair of the
pratincole were shot near Yarmouth. A few oftliem, breed annually
in the fens near Yarmouth, in the same locality as the ruffs, xvith
ivhich they are sometimes tahen." Mr. Hoy's thorough acquaintance
with our eastern coast and the entire " broad district," renders this
passage the more inexplicable, but whatever bird, through some
lapsus calami, may have been here confounded with the pratincole,
there can be no question that this rare species was at no time a
resident in our marshes, or otherwise, than it now is, a very rare
and accidental visitant.

COLLARED PRATINCOLE. 65

wall, and the same birds, in Sir William Hooker's MS.,
are stated to have been male and female, and their
stomachs filled with beetles. These specimens, as I am
also informed by Mr. Joseph Clarke, of Saffron Walden
(from whom Yarrell obtained his information respecting
them), were shot, on the 21st of May, by a fisherman
named John Bessey, who sold them to the late Isaac
Harvey, a game dealer, at Yarmouth, for twenty
shillings. They were extremely dirty and smeared
with blood, and Harvey's wife washed them "as she
would stockings," and hung them out on a pole to dry ;
but, in spite of this rough usage, they were subsequently
re-sold by Harvey for £7. Ca]Dtain Longe, when re-
siding at Yarmouth, took some pains to trace out this
pair, but was unable to do so, nor have I been more
fortunate through enquiries made in other quarters.^
A specimen in Mr. Gurney's collection, said to have
been killed near Yarmouth, was purchased some years
back at the sale of Mr. Thurtell's birds, at Eaton,
near Norwich ; and of these, as I have recently ascer-
tained from Mr. Hunt, a cashier in the Norwich Post-
office, the larger portion had belonged to his father,
whose name I have had frequent occasion to mention
as an authority on questions of local ornithology.
It is quite possible, therefore, that Mr. Gurney's bird
may have been one of the original Yarmouth pair,
which are also recorded by Hunt in his " List of Birds"
published in Stacy's "History of Norfolk." The only
other example, and also the last that I am aware of, as
having been killed in this county, is the one recorded
by Yarrell as shot in May, 1840, on the shore of
Blakeney harbour, by Henry Overton, a noted fowler.

* Bessey's son remembers their being killed, and thinks they
niay have been purchased either by the late Mr. Sparshall, of
^Norwich, or Sir E. Adair's father.

66 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

This bird came into tlie possession of tlie late Mr.
James Sparham, of Blakeney, who presented it to Mr.
Henrj Rogers, then residing at Thetford. Some few
years later, on Mr. Rogers leaving England, this pratin-
cole passed into the hands of the late Mrs. Flower, of
Feltwell, and is now in Mr. Newcome's collection at
Feltwell Hall.

CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS, Liimajns.

GOLDEN PLOVER.

The Golden or " Whistling " Plover, as it is locally
termed, is a regular autumnal visitant, but varies as
much in numbers, according to the season, as in the
time of its arrival. Pretty generally distributed through-
out the county, it is met with in flocks of more or less
extent, throughout the winter months, except during
periods of extremely severe weather,"^ when, like other
kindred species, it passes southwards, for a time, to
return again with the earliest change to a more genial
temperature.f At such times, after the breaking up of

* Mr. Cordeaux, in his " Ornithological notes" from North
Lincolnshire ("Zoologist.," 1867, p. 690), refers to the partial
migrations of this species during sharp weather. In the first
week of January, 1867, he says, during a sharp frost, " not one was
left in those places where a few days previously they had congre-
gated in thousands." On the 23rd, however, a rapid thaw com-
menced ; and on the 24th, when the marshes were once more clear
of snow, " considerable flocks of golden plover had returned to
their old haunts."

f Mr. Lubbock gives a remarkable instance of the " weather
wise" instinct of this species, so appropriately termed pluvialis on
that account. The extraordinary restlessness of several flocks of
plover and lapwings in the marshes, so impressed him on one

GOLDEN PLOVER. 67

a hard frost, and tlie re-appearance once more of verdure
from under the deep snow, the whistle of the golden
plover, as they rise from the fields, sounds cheerily in
the bright sunshine of a winter's morning. The expe-
rience, however, of old sportsmen and others best
capable of judging, indicates a very marked decrease,
of late years, in the number of these birds as observed
in this county, and even in a locality as Httle changed
in its general features as Thetford warren, Mr. Bartlett
informs me that they are seen only in scores instead
of hundreds as formerly. . About Feltwell, also, they are
considered scarce.

Their southward movements, as is the case also
with many of the Tringce, commences fa-r earher in
the autumn than is generally supposed, and, consider-
ing also their late stay with us, at times, in the
spring, their nesting duties in more northern localities
must be performed in a very Kmited period. It is by
no means unusual to hear the well known notes of these
birds, at night, by the middle of August, as the van-
guard of their migratory forces passes over this county,
and stragglers occasionally killed at sach times leave no
doubt as to the identity of the species. In Mr. Dowell's
MS. notes, I find mention of a single golden plover, seen
by him at Blakeney, on the 26th of July, 1853, the
earliest date of which I have any record ; but the same ac-
curate observer noticed several small famihes in August,
1852, frequenting the "freshes" about Blakeney and
Morston ; some individuals still retaining their full
summer plumage. Mr. Alfred Newton tells me that
in 1852 he and his brother Edward saw a small " trip"

occasion, in the month of December, that he was thereby induced
to put off an intended journey. On the next morning, which was
calm and mild, the plover had all left ; but, in the course of the
night, so great was the fall of snow that the lanes were filled with
the drift to the depth of sis or seven feet.
K 2

68 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

of five on Tlietford warren, on the SOth of July, and
that between the 17th and 20th of August following,
they observed several larger *^ trips," numbering alto-
gether from thirty to fifty bu^ds, on the same locaHty.
In 1854, too, they saw a '•' trip" of about five and twenty
on the 14th of August. Mr. Lubbock also states that
two were shot on the 23rd of August, 1827, from a flock
of seven on the edge of Horsey broad ; and on the 18th
of August, 1856,'^ I was shown a pair of, apparently,
young birds which had been picked up that morning
on the line near Yarmouth, having flown against the
telegraph wires during the night — a not unfrequent
occurrence. One of these had its head completely cut
off, and the other was found running about between
the rails, with one wing half severed from the body.
It is not, however, until near the end of September,
or more usually in the following month, that such
flocks as frequent our stubbles and fallows tempt the
sportsman to leave the partridges for a time, and
endeavour, by careful stalking, to obtain a shot. This,
however, as the plover generally alight in the middle
of a field, is extremely uncertain, but by walking round
and round them, each time gradually narrowing the
circle, they may sometimes be approached near enough
for a successful shot. Not unfrequently, also, by firing
one barrel at random, a fair chance is offered for the
second, as golden plover, as well as lapwings, inva-
riably sweep downwards in a body, and then scatter in
all directions after the first rej)ort. I have generally
found them more abundant during November than in
any other month, when, as Mr. Lubbock remarks, '' they
seem to divide their time between the marshes and

* A single bird, black-breasted, was flushed by Mr. Cordeaux,
from, a marsh, in North Lincolnshire, on the 3rd of August, 1867,
as recorded in the " Zoologist " for that year, p. 946.

GOLDEN PLOVER. 69

■uplands. If they are in a marsh all day they often move
off to a ploughed field just as it is dusk, and vice versa ;
if upon arable land, they go down to the marsh for
the night." My own experience exactly confirms this
statement, as some years since, when in the habit
of shooting, late in the season, at Framingham, near
Norwich, I used frequently, after leaving the turnips,
to await the chance arrival of plover on the high grounds
where they roosted, at times, in large ^^congregations."
In the vicinity of the coast they are also found in
great plenty during the winter months, both at the
mouths of our tidal rivers, and on the flat shores of the
'^ Wash," alternating between the "muds " and marshes,
as the tide ebbs or flows. As before remarked, their
numbers, like many other winter visitants, depend much
on the severity of the season, a sudden change to frost
and snow, bringing large accessions from more northern
locahties. In the extremely sharp winter of 1859-60,
when our rivers were frozen over, a large quantity of
both golden plover and lapwing were brought to the
Norwich market, on the 23rd of December ; and in the
winter of 1829, as recorded by Messrs. Paget, a dealer
in Yarmouth received in one day, from the surrounding
district, a hundred and fifty golden plover besides snipe
and wildfowl.

The not unfrequent occurrence of specimens in the
spring, late enough to have acquired the black breast of
their summer plumage, has no doubt led to the suppo-
sition that they have occasionally remained to breed
here, an impression evidently entertained by Messrs.
Sheppard and Whitear, owing to a few being seen, on
one occasion during the nesting season, on Mousehold-
heath, near Norwich.^ Of this, however, I can find no

* A locality also named by Hunt as an occasional resort of this
species late in the spring.

70 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

proof eitlier in our own or earlier times, although, strag-
glers may be seen in every month of the year, and Sir
Thomas Browne particularly remarks of this species,
" they breed not with us, but in some parts of Scotland,
and plentifully in Iceland.""^

Mr. Lubbock states that a pair seen on Thorpe
common, on the 26th of April, 1823, were in the nuptial
plumage, and the female when shot was forward in Qg^ ;
a few also exhibited in our fishmarket for sale on the 5th
of April, 1855, were all, more or less, in a state of change.
On the 15th of May, 1856, a single bird, in full summer
plumage, was brought in to one of our birdstuffers ; and
on the same day, as I find by my notes at the time, a
couple of land-rails and a nest of nightingale's eggs ;
but a still later date is given by Messrs. Gurney and
Fisher, who have known this species to be killed in
Norfolk on the 25th of May. Such cases are, however,
quite exceptional, but as regards those which may be
said to have wintered in Norfolk, the northward move-
ment takes place for the most part in April, whilst
others from more southern quarters appear in May,
with the knots and godwits, and, according to the pre-
valent winds at the time, are met with for longer or
shorter periods by the Breydon gunners.

There is one point connected with the migratory
movements of this species, which would seem, until
very recently, to have escaped the notice of British
ornithologists — it is their whistling by night over our
cities and towns, when attracted by the glare of the
lamps on their nocturnal passage. The very early
autumnal migration of these birds is thus clearly indi-
cated in some seasons, as well as fresh arrivals durmg

* In Wilkin's edition of Sir Thomas Browne's woi'ks, vol. iv.,
p. 319, the word "Iceland" occurs in this passage, but it is no
doubt a misprint for Ireland.

GOLDEN PLOVER. 71

the winter months. Probably many of my readers have
remarked, at such times, the melodious notes of these
plover, which would seem to be uttered incessantly in
order to keep the whole body together ; and as this
always occurs when the nights are extremely dark, I
believe the birds, once drawn within the radius of the
city lights, become perfectly bewildered, and fly round
and round for hours, till, at day-break, the spell is
broken, and they resume at once their direct course of
flight; for, in no instance have I known, under such
cu'cumstances, any unusual number observed in the
neighboui'hood on the following morning. I have heard
them myself on more than one occasion, when sitting
up late, or from some cause unable to sleej), passing
and repassing over the house-tops throughout the night,
their plaintive cries now dying away in the distance, and
now again so loud and clear over head that it has seemed
as if a gun fired upwards at the sound must inevitably
do some execution amongst them ; since, though lost in
the darkness, the noise of their wings is at times quite
perceptible.

The following are the dates on which occurrences
of this kind have come under my own notice during
the last sixteen or seventeen years, whether residing
in Norwich or in the immediate neighbourhood ; but it
is worthy of note that here, in every instance, these
birds have been heard either in autumn or winter, as I
have no record of any similar event, at other periods of
the year : — *

* That this does not, however, hold good, as a rule, is shown
by the following note, communicated by Mr. J. Morgan, of
Stratford-on-Avon, to the "Field" of March 31st, 1866, p. 273, which
is additionally interesting from the fact that various species were
actually picked up dead and examined on the following day ; thus
proving the miscellaneous character of this particular flight, and by
inference, also, of others, where many different notes have been

72 BTKDS OP NOEFOLK.

1850. November 29tli. From about nine o'clock in
tbe evening large numbers beard over tlie city till nearly
daylight ; tbe nigbt very dark. — ^December 1st. Again
very numerous ; night fine and dark.

1851. October 21st. A large flight over the city;
very dark at the time.

1856. August 20th. Plover heard nearly all night ;
very dark. Incessant rain for twenty-four hours. Two
killed against telegraph wires the same week.

1857. October 13th. Large numbers over the city ;
night dark, but fine.

1860. August 14th. A small flight heard over the
city.

That the above dates, copied from my own note-
books for the last seventeen years, represent all the
occasions on which these birds have been heard, at
night, over the city, during that period, I do not
pretend to say, but inasmuch as a dark night at
the exact period of their migration, alone brings them
under the influence of our city lamj)s, it is quite possible
that one or more seasons may elapse without their
presence being thus indicated by their clamorous cries.

heard at one time : — " On Thursday morning last (March 22nd), about
half-past two, this town was visited by an immense flock of birds,
of many species, but principally starlings, and their proceedings for
some time created alarm. They swarmed on the chimney tops and
on other parts of high buildings, while others were wheeling about
and uttering cries as though they had been seized with a panic,
dashing themselves against the walls, &c., with such violence that
scores were picked up next morning dead ; while I should say at
least a hundred or two were captured in houses, having fallen
down the chimneys. * * * * I have seen many of the birds,
starlings, snipe, ringed-dotterel, wild-duch, §'c., and I have been
informed by others of wild-geese, partridges, thrushes, blackbirds,
&c., being in the flock. The night was dark, the stars being
faintly visible, and it was impossible to tell from what direction
they had come."

GOLDEN PLOVER. 73

Accustomed, however, as I have been for some years to
listen for these well known sounds at the beginning
of autumn, I never remember noticing any particular
mingling of notes — although at times the golden plover
and lapwings seemed massed together — until the 23rd
of August, 1865, when the feathered host which then
visited our city and neighbourhood* exceeded not only
in numbers, but in combination of species, anything
before recorded in this part of the kingdom. The
night was extremely dark, and the close sultry air
foretold the storm which, about two a.m., culminated
in one terrific flash of lightning, accompanied by a
deafening peal of thunder and a perfect deluge of rain.
Between nine and ten o'clock I was first attracted by the
ordinary whistle of the plover, but on stepping into the
garden, became aware at once of the unusual character
of this migratory flight. The air seemed literally filled
with birds, but, though at times they were apparently
within a few yards of one's head it was impossible
to see anything, even when standing close to the gas-
lamps, on the road. Different flocks appeared to answer
each other, and their confused clamour was so great

* I may here remark that a Correspondent in the "Field"
(September 9th, 1865) records a large flight of birds at Leicester,
as observed by himself on the very same evening. He was attracted
by the noise, and on going out saw " the dark outline of a flock of
birds, going in a south-westerly direction," From their notes he
believes the majority to have been " geese of some kind or other,"
and their attendants he thinks were of the plover species ; but a
friend imagined " that he could detect the note of an owl amongst
the rest." In the following autumn, another Correspondent in the
same journal (September 15th, 1866), writing from Cranbrooke,
describes a very large flight of birds as having passed over head on
the 9th of that month. It was raining hard at the time, and very
dark. Their notes resembled " pweet, pweet," apparently uttered
by some hundreds in each flock, and were heard by him, at intervals
of about ten minutes, from half-past eleven till two a.m.
L

74 BIEDS OP NORFOLK.

as to attract attention from the least observant, and
formed a general topic of conversation for days after.
Althongh., judging from the sound, they appeared to
come and go, there v^^as nothing to indicate a direct
movement in any particular direction, but rather, as
observed on former occasions, a hovering round, their
cries never altogether ceasing, though occasionally
almost dying away in the distance. From subsequent
enquiries I found they had been heard in all parts of the
city, and for at least two or three miles round in every
direction.^ The main body evidently consisted of golden-
plover, and with them were also lapwings and redshanks,
in much smaller quantities. Occasionally the unmis-
takeable ^' crake" of a tern was heard, quite apart from
the rest, and I believe I also recognised the scream of
the black-headed gull ;t whilst in the general Babel of

* A correspondent in the " Field" of September 2nd, 1865, writing
from Norwich, mentions this same flight, on the 23rd of August,
but seems not to have detected the variety of notes. He speaks of
a large flock of golden plover being heard over the city from
9.30 to 1 a.m., of which, as he stood in a field listening to them,
"there appeared to be thousands," and by imitating their notes
with a common dog-whistle he was at times "surrounded by
them," and could hear their wings " buzzing through the air."

t Lord Lilford, in his " Notes on the Ornithology of Spain"
("Ibis," 1865, p. 176), particularly refers to the "extraordinary cries
of birds during the night," as observed by himself both in England
and on the Continent. " Once," he writes, " I listened for at least
ten minutes to the continuous cry of a flock of birds, which cry I
can only liken, and that very slightly, to the screech of the night-
heron (Nycticorax griseus). Again, on the esplanade at Corfu, in the
summer of 1858, about 1 a.m. on a July morning, he was startled
by "an uproar as if all the feathered inhabitants of the great
Acherusian marsh had met in conflict over head." It waa
impossible to render any idea of the " Babel of sounds," most of
which were quite unknown to him, although a practical ornitholo-
gist, but amongst them he recognised " the wail of a curlew, the
cry of more than one species of tern, and the laugh of some

GOLDEN PLOVER. 75

sounds came the rrmrmuring of smaller migrants, such aa
thrushes and finches.* Many strange rumours were, of
course, circulated at the time, but, with the exception
of such species as I have here named, I could not ascer-
tain that any others had been satisfactorily identified.
Amongst them, owls were said to have been heard
hooting by the road-side, and early in the evening large
flocks of birds, like thrushes or redwings, to have been
seen settling on trees and houses in the neighbourhood
of the city; but none appear to have been shot. The
extraordinary noise of the plover, induced most probably
by the coming storm, was sufficient to awaken many
people during the night, and thus afforded evidence of
the presence of these birds for many hours, but it is

Lotus." Mr. Alfred Newton also informs me that on more than
one occasion during the last few years, in the month of August, he
has listened to similar flights over Cambridge and its vicinity,
and always on dark nights. From their notes he has supposed the
majority to consist of black -headed gulls, mixed with golden plover,
and he has at times detected the cry of the long-billed curlew.

Mr. Cornewall Simeon, writing from Winchester, in the " Field,"
of December 8th, 1866, records a very remarkable gathering of
birdsjof various kinds, over that city on the evening of the 20th,
which were listened to by him from nine o'clock until twelve, when
he went to bed. The night was " dark, fine, and perfectly still,"
and by far the larger number appeared from their notes to be
fieldfares and redwings, accompanied by some dunlins and ring-
dotterel, occasionally a snipe or two were heard, and by the rattle
of the wings at times, some larger birds, supposed to be wild fowl.
It was impossible, he says, to form any estimate of their number,
as they passed steadily over in those three hours, only a few
occasionally "circling round as if dazzled by the lights of the
town," but the air seemed literally ftdl of them.

* The migration of various classes of bnds, to our coast, in one
large body, as observed during the day, is specially referred to
by Sir Thomas Browne, who says : " teal, woodcocks, fieldfares,
thrushes, and small birds, come and alight together ; for the most
part some hawks and birds of prey attending them."
L 2

76 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

difficult to imagine what became of tliem in the early
morning, when the rain fell in torrents. The next day
no trace whatever remained of our nocturnal visitants,
which, with their marvellous instinct, seemed to have
passed on, to a bird, to their winter quarters.

As a delicacy for the table, this species deservedly
stands in high estimation, and in earlier times, from such
records as remain to us, appears to have been as highly
valued. In the L'Estrange *^ Household Book" for
1520, we find the Vicar of Thornham's servant receiving
various gratuities for the bringing of plover, as pre-
sents, and when purchased the prices may be gathered
from the following items : — '' Pd. for a crane and vj
plovs, xx^-;" " yj plovs, xiiij"!-;" "vj plovs, xij*^-;" and
" iij plovs, yj^-." At a Royal feast, also, at Kirtlinge,"*
Cambridgeshire, in September, 1577, we have xxviij
plover purchased at xxx^- ; yet, strange as it may seem
to the modern epicure, at the very same festivities, in
honour of our "good Queen Bess," xviij gulls were
provided at a cost of iiiijli. x^- ; and this with lambs at
five shillings and pigs at a shilling a piece.

CHARADRIUS MORINELLUS, Linneeus.

DOTTEEEL.

Although by no means so numerous as in former
days, the Dotterel, as a regular migrant, still visits us
at the end of spring, and again a few months later,

* See Extracts from " The Booke of the Household Charges
and other Paiments laid out by the L. North, and his comande-
ment : beginning the first day of January, 1575, and the 18 yere of
our most gratius Soverain's (Queen Elizabeth's) raigne." Com-
municated to the Society of Antiquaries, in 1819, by William

DOTTEREL. 77

frequenting chiefly the warrens and fens of the
western parts of the county. Tradition, however, tells
us that the " trips " which now visit this county are
not only smaller but their stay shorter than they were
formerly, when netting dotterel was a source of con-
siderable profit to the fowler;^ this species having
been always considered a great delicacy for the table.
Now-a-days the incessant and more noisy persecution
of gunners, scares even the " foolish " dotterel from our
inhospitable soil, which, on the other hand, presents less
and less attractions through inclosure and cultivation.
Indeed from the latter cause, on the eastern side of the
county, they have for many years been extremely scarce,
appearing at uncertain intervals and in various local-
ities, to be noted only as rarities, if by chance observed.
The Messrs. Paget, in 1834, describe them as "rather
rare" in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth, as they are
now, a few appearing occasionally, in spring, as on
May 19th, 1866, when a pair were shot on the beachf
with other migrants ; and again on their return in
autmnn about the end of September, at which time, Mr.
Frere tells me, he has known three specimens (a young
bird and two old ones) obtained during the last four
years, on the beach and denes, but has never heard of
one on Breydon. Further to the north, about Blakeney
and Morston, they are also seen at times, on their
migratory course. On the 12th of May, 1852, Mr.

Stevenson, of Norwicli, F.S.A., and published in the nineteenth
volume of the " Archseologia," pp. 283, et seq. Also a reprint of the
same paper in " The progresses and processions of Queen Eliza-
beth," by John Nichols, F.S.A., vol. ii., p. 236.

* For the old method of taking dotterel by night, with a net
and lanthorn, see " The Wild-fowler," by H. C. Folkard.

t In May, 1867, a single bird was killed on the beach, near
Lowestoft, Suffolk, which Mr. G. G. Fowler informs me is the only
one he has known in that locaUty.

78 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Dowell met witli a small flock of from ten to twelve
near the roadway leading on to the beach, at Blakeney,
and five were sent up to Norwich from that neigh-
bourhood during the same week. On the 9th of May,
1857, a single bird, just assuming its full plumage, was
shot at East Ruston; and on the 10th of May, 1859,
three males and one female were killed at Halvergate.
Again, on the 9th of May, 1863, one old bird and three
young of the previous year, were sent up to Norwich
from Blakeney. A considerable number, according to
Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, ^'were seen in May,
1816, in the parts westward of Burnham," near the
coast, and Mr. Lubbock states that one or two have
been killed so near Norwich as " the verge of Mousehold
heath," and that on one occasion, many years ago, a flock
of fifty appeared in the parish of Eccles, of which a sports-
man, who went in pursuit of them, obtained fourteen.

In west Norfolk, however, the more open " brecks "
and warrens, from all time, and, of late years, the
reclaimed portions of the " fens" have presented, from
their wild features, peculiar attractions for these passing
migrants. "The morinellus or dotterel," writes Sir
Thomas Browne, " about Thetford and the Champian,
comes unto us in September and March, staying
not long, and is an excellent dish."* And in the
very same locality, at the present time, although less
numerous than in former years, Mr. Bartlett informs
me that ^'with a fine April and a warm May," a few
" trips" are generally observed on his warren, sometimes

* In the ITortliTimberland "Houseliold. Book" (Temp. Hen. viii.)
dotterel were sold at one penny each, the same price as teal and
woodcocks, whilst stints were only twopence per dozen. In the
Lord North " Accounts," also, for the Royal banquets at Kirtlinge
(Temp. Elizabeth), viij does and iij dotterel were supplied at
\U. viijs. According to Yarrell, they fetch from seven to eight
shillings a couple in the London market.

DOTTEREL. 79

amounting to about a dozen birds, but rarely as many
as twenty. In the same manner, on the great fields
about Westacre, a few still rest for a time on tbeir
passage in spring — a small flock being seen by Mr.
Anthony Hamond, jun., during tbe first week in
May, 1867 ; but tlieir small numbers, and less regular
appearance, is remarked both by sportsmen and natu-
ralists in that neighbourhood. From Feltwell Mr.
Newcome gives a very similar account. He killed one
out of a small ''trip," in May, 1867, and others were
killed on Wangford warren, in Suffolk, during the same
season; but he is inclined to think that since the
drainage and cultivation of the "fens" these birds, on
their arrival in May, prefer the newly sown bean and
rye-lands to the warrens and sheep-walks, but this only
on their vernal migration, as all attraction ceases with
the growing crops. They are particularly partial to
bare grass where sheep are feeding, but even in the
most exposed localities will squat so close as to pass
unnoticed till almost trodden upon, relying for safety
rather on concealment than flight. The shooting of
dotterel during their spring passage is a most unsports-
manlike practice, and to its prevalence must be attributed,
in a great measure, the growing scarcity of the species."^
For the birds killed at that season having escaped all the
various casualties to which they are liable during the

* Some forty years ago ("Mag. Nat. Hist.," vol. ix., p. 625), Mr,
Salmon attributed the falling off in their numbers, " of late years,"
to this cause, but at the same time it must be remembered that
as long since as 1833 and 1834, the late Mr. Heysham, of Carlisle,
who took so much pains to estabHsh the fact of their breeding
in the neighbourhood of the lakes, understood that they were
yearly becoming more and more scarce about Keswick and its
vicinity, owing to their destruction by anglers, their feathers being
in much request for dressing artificial flies (Yarrell, 2nd ed., vol ii.,
p. 461.)

80 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

winter are then paired, and in another month would be
breeding. The destruction, then, in the spring passage
of a single bird is equivalent to the destruction of a
whole brood. The gunners, however, who obtain a
shilHng a piece for them, have no scruples on this score,
and though in cold or wet weather the dotterel are wary
enough, on a fine sunny day, as Mr. Alfred Newton
informs me, nearly the whole " trip " may be secured at
repeated shots.

In connection also, of late years, with their brief
stay in this county, is the far later period at which they
arrive in spring (presuming, of course, that our earlier
records are correct), appearing now, almost invariably,
during the second and third week of May,"^ when the
chief bulk of our passing migrants — ^knots, godwits, grey-
plover, and many others — pay a hurried visit to our
shores, and, impelled by natural instincts, push onwards
as quickly as possible to their northern breeding grounds.
Yet, in 1843, Mr. W. E. Fisher, in " A note on the times
of arrival of the summer birds of passage at Yarmouth"
(" Zoologist," p. 248), gives the 25th of March as the
date of Charadrius morinellus ; and in Messrs. Gurney
and Fisher's "List," in 1846 ("Zoologist," p. 1319) it
is described as appearing in March and September,
which agrees exactly with Sir Thomas Browne's state-

* Mr. Cordeaus, writing of this species, in North Lincolnshire
(" Zoologist," 1867, p. 808), records the occurrence of a single
dotterel on the 15th of April, as the only one he has ever seen so
early ; remarking that these birds " invariably make their appear-
ance in those years, when they do visit this neighbourhood, during
the first week in May." In a previous note, also, on the same
species ("Zoologist," 1866, p. 294), he says, referring to their
former abundance in the North Lincolnshire marshes, in May,
" From some cause or other their numbers have gradually
decreased, and, previous to this spring, four or five years have
elapsed without my seeing even a single bird."

DOTTEREL. 81

ment, nearly two hundred years before.* It is possible,
therefore, that when far more plentiful than they are
now, their visits were spread over a longer space of
time ; separate " trips " arriving and departing again at
intervals from the end of March up to the middle of
May. It is also somewhat remarkable that, during the
last sixteen or seventeen years, I have never seen a
single dotterel, in autumn, either in our poulterers' or
birdstuffers' shops, but both Mr. Newcome and Mr.
Alfred Newton assure me that a few still visit the
warrens in August, though, perhaps staying only a day
or two, they thus escape observationf — a fact the more
probable as at that time of year the warrens are little
frequented, and in parts overgrown with brakes, among
which the birds seek shelter from the sun in veiy hot
weather.

In the dotterel, as in the phalaropes, the females
are said to be the brightest in plumage, a statement
which I have never had the opportunity of testing for
myself, but Mr. Newcome assures me he has found such
to be the case, and Mr. Newton's testimony is to the
same effect.

* Mr. Salmon, in 1836 (" Mag. Nat. Hist." vol. ix., pp. 520, 525),
gives the date of their appearance in autumn, in the neighbourhood
of Thetford, as "the end of August or beginning of September."

In Pennant's "British Zoology" (1761), dotterel are also said to
make their appearance on Lincoln-heath and on the moors of
Derbyshire " in small flocks of eight or ten, only in the latter part
of April, and stay there all May and jiart of June" and to be taken
in the months of AprO. and September, on the Wiltshire and
Berkshire downs.

t M. Julian Deby, in his " Notes on the birds of Belgium"
(" Zoologist," 1846, p. 1251), remarks that " the dotterel is not
a summer resident in Belgium, and is only seen during the two first
months of autumn. * * * J have never noticed this bird on its
return in spring, which inclines me to believe that it must follow
Bome other migratory route at this season to that it pursues in
autumn."
M

82 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

That in earlier times this species was not only sought
for by the fowler in this county, but afforded sport even
for Royalty in the old hawking days, is shown by some
entries in a curious MS. diary "^ of Hans Jacob Wurmser
V. Vendenheym, who accompanied Lewis Frederick Duke
of Wurtemberg, in his diplomatic mission to England
in 1610. The Duke, proceeding by Ware, E-oyston,
Cambridge, and Newmarket, appears to have arrived
at Thetford on the 7th of May,t where Eang James the
First was then staying for the enjoyment of hare hunt-

* This very interesting diary, written in old French, is pre-
served amongst the additional MSS. in the British Museum,
in a curious little volume bound in soft parchment, and is thus
entered in the catalogue: — "Wurmser H. J., Travels with Louis
Count (?) of Wurtemberg — 20,001." Under the head of "Memo-
rabilia;" a translation of certain portions will also be found in
a communication by Sir Frederick Madden to the " Illustrated
News" for February 28th, 1857 (vol. sxx., p. 192, suppl.)

f The presence of this Monarch at Thetford at that particular
date, as well as on many other occasions, is recorded in the
"Progresses, processions, and magnificent festivities of King
James the First," as published, in four volumes, by John Nichols,
F.S.A., in 1828. From that author it appears that on March 4th,
1604, Rowland Whyte wrote from Baynard Castle to the Earl of
Shrewsbury, "The King is at Thetford, and is soe farre in love
with the pleasures of that place as he means to have a howse there."
Subsequently, in the " Abstract of his Majesties Bevenew," we
find amongst the keepers of the King's houses, the name of Lady
Barwick and her son as receiving a yearly stipend for keeping the
King's house and garden at Tlietford, and from 1604 he seems to
have paid repeated visits to this his favourite sporting seat, until,
in 1616, as stated by Martin in his " History of Tlietford" (p. 57)
(and quoted by Nichols, vol. iii, p. 166), " he received an affront from
one of the farmers belonging to the tow a, who being offended at
the liberty his Majesty took in riding over his corn, in the transport
of his passion, threatened to bring an action against his Majesty.
Since that time neither that King, nor arty of his successors, have
visited this town." The Kling's house is still known by that
name.

DOTTEREL. 83

ing and hawking, his favourite diversions ; and on the
following day, "apres que son E[xcellence] eut disne
avecq sa Ma*® le due de Lenox qui I'estoit venu visiter
deuant disne le menu a la chasse ou I'on courrut le lievi'e,
fit voller ung espervier et prient des Doterelles, oiseau qui se
laisse prendre par une estrange maniere ainsy que nous
avons veu. Et qui se peult mieulx dire qu'escripre.^' To my
friend Mr. J. E. Hartingj of Kingsbury, I am greatly
indebted for a verbatim copy of such portions of the
original MS.* as relate to these pastimes, it being
important to ascertain the name actually used by this
writer, in order to identify satisfactorily the species re-
ferred to. He suggests also, and apparently with much
reason, that "the writer must have enquired the name

* A great inaccuracy occurs in Sir Frederick Madden's trans-
lation, the sentence " They flew a sparrow-hawk and took some
doterelles" (in the original "fit voller" — caused to fly) being rendered,
" they saw a hawk seize some doterels ;" the real meaning being
that " they took or seized some dotterels, while, as we may suppose,
the sparrow-hawk was flying. The hawk being let loose would
make the dotterel lie close so that they could be netted, or driven
into a net ; and that dotterel were driven into nets we have Wil-
lughby's evidence in his " Ornithology" (1678), p. 310. After men-
tioning the common behef of their extending a foot or a wing as the
fowler did, he quotes the information of Mr. Peter Dent as follows : —
"A gentleman oi Norfolk, where this kind of sport [the catching of
dotterels] is very common, told me [Mr. Dent] that to catch dotterels
six or seven persons usually go in company. When they have
found the birds, they set their net in an advantageous place, and
each of them holding a stone in either hand, get behind the birds,
and striking their stones often one against another rouse them, which
are naturally very sluggish ; and so by degrees coup them, and
drive them into the net. The birds being awakened do often stretch
themselves, putting out a wing or a leg, and in imitation of them
the men that drive them, thrust out an arm or a leg for fashion
sake, to comply with an old custom. But he thought that this
imitation did not conduce to the taking of them, for that they
seemed not to mind or regard it."
M 2

84 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

of the bird on the S23ot, and, instead of translating it,
simply put down the English word"^ as it was given to
him."

CHARADRIUS HIATICULA, Linnaeus.

EINGED PLOVEE.

The Einged Plover, one of oni* most interesting
indigenous species, may be said to possess, at least in
Norfolk and Suffolk, two distinct phases of existence,
being found, throughout the breeding season, not only
on the coast but on the great sandy warrens in the
interior, where its sprightly actions and melodious notes
enliven those dreary wastes from about the middle of
March up to the end of August, when young and old
again retire to the sea-shore and the mouths of our tidal
rivers, till the time once more arrives for this strange
inland migration. To Mr. Salmon's notes in 1836
("Mag. Nat. Hist.," vol. ix., p. 522) on the habits of
these birds in the neighbourhood of Thetford (as quoted
by Yarrell and other authors), I am enabled to add the
following particulars from the more recent observations
of Mr. Alfred Newton in the same district — " The ringed

* That the word dotterel is " pecuUarly English," I have the
authority of Mr. W. Aldis Wright, the librarian of Trinity College,
Cambridge and editor of Shakespear, who, in a letter to Mr. Alfred
Newton, gives as the earliest instances of its occurrence, Drayton's
" Polyolbion," song xxv. 1., 345 ; and Bacon's " Natural History,"
cent, iii., 236. The former first published in 1622, the latter in
1627. As further evidence, also, of its English origin, he quotes the
following passage, under the head of Lincolnshire, from " Camden's
Britannia [Holland's translation, 1637 ; the same passage occuring,
as well, in the Latin edition, 1607], " dotterels, so named of their
doUsh foolishnesse, which, being a kind of birds as it were of an
apish kinde, ready to imitate what they see done, are caught by
candle light according to fowler's gesture."

RINGED PLOVEK. 85

plover, or * stoneliatcli ' as it is locally termed, breeds
from March to June on TLetford warren. Whether
the same bird lays more than once in the season I can-
not positively say, but I have little doubt that such is
the case. It certainly is so if the first eggs are destroyed
or taken away. The 7th of February is the earliest date
on which the species was ever observed by my brother
or myself in that neighbourhood, and the 1st September
the latest. We have known the first egg to be laid
on the 23rd of March, and have found several nests with
eggs (one with a single fresh egg) on the 8th of June ;
this was in 1851. When the birds first arrive in the
district they are generally seen on the fallows, or on
land from which turnips have recently been fed ofi".
After a few days they betake themselves to the warrens,
and remain there for the summer, frequenting the most
barren spots. The nests are somewhat deep holes,
apparently formed by the birds themselves, and having
at the bottom a considerable number of small stones,
almost enough to fill half the hole, and neatly arranged.
On this pavement, whence they derive their ordinary
appellation, the four eggs are laid, with their pointed
ends invariably meeting in the centre of the nest."^ The
cock bird has a regular song, in which he indulges
during flight at this season."

On this warren, where Mr. Newton tells me he has
seen some two dozen nests in one day — not necessarily
all occupied, or even recent, for owing to the peculiarly
permanent materials forming their " domestic hearths,"
these last many months, perhaps even a couple of
years — ^their numbers appear to have decreased but little
of late years, its character being unchanged ; but at

* The nests being in reality deep cups in wliicli the eggs are
placed with their small ends downwards, Sir Thomas Browne
was not so far wrong in stating, on the authority of the " Eringo
diggers," " that they were set upright like eggs in salt."

5b BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

Beachamwell the different aspect of the soil of late years,
has banished for ever these once numerous visitants.
In that neighbourhood, as I am informed by the Eev. H.
Dugmore, the greater part of the warren, about ten or
twelve years ago, was broken up, and the remainder laid
down for sheep walks, since which time (with the excep-
tion of the first year after the alteration took place, when
a few made their appearance), he has not seen a single
ringed plover, where, twenty years ago, they might have
been counted by hundreds. The stone-curlew and lap-
wmg, are still met with, but in much smaller numbers —
" not one in twenty to what they used to be" — and since
the warren was thus broken up, such migrants as the
sea eagle, the rough-legged buzzard, and the peregrine,
of fi-equent occurrence in former days, are now rarely seen.
In like manner Brandon warren has been done away
with for some years, but Mr. Newcome observed a few
pairs in May, 1867, both on Lakenheath and Wangford
warrens, in Suffolk, and they are still found, I believe,
(certainly up to 1863) on Elveden in smaU numbers.
1 may here also state that Mr. Anthony Hamond, jun.,
showed me recently two eggs of this plover, taken,
about twenty years ago, from a nest in Water-lane, in
the Westacre district, close to Walton common, one
of the few wet commons still existing in Norfolk. As
far as I could learn but one parr of birds were seen
at the time, and the nest was situated near a run of
water, from whence this gravelly lane derives its name ;
nor have any birds of the kind been since observed, in
that very exceptional locality.

Sir Thomas Browne does not appear to have known
this bird as an inland breeder, but under the name
of " Ringlestones""^ describes it " as common about

* Mr. Alfred Newton informs me that "Kingel" is at the
present day a Norsk name for this bird. The term sea-dotterel,
also, frequently but erroneously applied to this plover, is of

RINGED PLOVER. 87

Yarmoutli sands, laying its eggs about June in the sand
and shingle;" and, from his time until within the last
forty or fifty years, it was no doubt plentifully distributed
during the breeding season over our entire coast-line,
either nesting on the sea-shore or in close vicinity
to the sea, on the margins of our tidal streams. Of
late years, however, on the coast, as on the warrens,
their ntunbers have sensibly decreased, and from causes,
which must, I fear, eventually lead to their extinction
as shore breeders — the wholesale plundering of their
nests, for edible purposes as well as for the cabinets of
collectors, and the even less justifiable destruction of the
birds themselves during the summer months. In the
neighbourhood of Yarmouth, as at Horsey and Win-
terton, there are many localities where they bred freely
in former times, but which are now entirely deserted;
and unquestionably the increased population of our
watering places, and for the most part the easy access
to them by railroad from the large inland towns and
cities, have all tended to destroy the retirement of such

somewhat ancient date, as we find it thus used in two instances
in the Hunstanton " accounts " — " It. pd to ye fowler (xxiiij
weke 1525) at Corbetts for iij duss and di of stynts, v spowes,
iij whyte plovs, and ij redshanks, and ij sedotterells xvj<J-
Also, in the vjth weke, 1533, "Itm iiij sedotterells iij<l- " Sir
Thomas Browne also uses this name in some of his letters, but
there is little reason to doubt, from his own description of the bird,
that the " Morinellus marinus or sea-dotterel," of which he sent a
draft to Dr. Merritt on the 6th of February, 1668, (see Wilkin's
edition of his works, vol. i., pp. 403 and 405), was in reality the
turnstone (Strepsilas interpres). In Kay's edition of Willughby's
" Ornithology," we also find, apart from the notice of the " sea-lark
(Gharadrius sive Maticula)" [Book iii., p. 311], a tolerably accurate
description of " The Turnstone or Sea-Dottrel : Morinellus marinus,
of Sir Thomas Brown," to which the editor, alluding to their
appearance on the Norfolk coast, adds — " Our honoured friend,
Sir Thomas Brown, of Norwich, sent us the picture of this bird
by the title of the Sea-Dottrel."

88 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

districts, and banish altogether those species for whom
the former condition of things was an absolute necessity.
At the present time, in the long range of coast between
Yarmouth and Salthouse, I know of no regular nesting
place of this plover, although a few scattered pairs may
possibly be met with; but from their head station on
Salthouse beach to the shores of the Wash, they are
still found pretty numerously in summer, and more
particularly about Blakeney and Holme-point, near
Hunstanton.

At Salthouse, though sadly decreased in numbers of
late years, they have bred from time immemorial in
company with the lesser terns (Sterna minuta) frequent-
ing the upper portion of that natural rampart of flints,^
which here constitutes the beach, and the sandy margins
of the broad backwater that divides it from the raised
sea-banks and marshes beyond. This preference for the
vicinity of brackish waters, immediately adjoining the
coast, is observable also at Blakeney, where they nest on
the " meals " and shmgle, between the sea on the one
hand and the tidal channel on the other ; and at Holme,
where a wide basin between the sandhills (alternately
filled or emptied by the action of the tides), has attrac-
tions for them at all seasons.

I have reason to believe that on the coast, as on the
warrens, the ringed plover nest much earlier than is
generally supposed. It is true I have never found their
eggs, myself, earlier than the first or second week in May,
but this is mainly attributable to the fact, that my sea-
side excursions have, from necessity, been postponed till
about that date, but the Salthouse beachmen, in whose
statements I have perfect confidence, assure me that in
some seasons they have found ringed plover's eggs by
the middle of March ; the ordinary time of laying being

* See introduction to vol. i., p. xxxii.

RINGED PLOVER. 89

early in April. By the first week in March they begin to
" take to " the beach, and in very mild seasons even as
early as February. Owing in a great measure, however,
to the egging system, fresh ones may be here found, in
plenty, up to the middle of May ; and I have seen young
bii'ds just hatched on the 30th of May, and eggs hard
set upon on the 12th of June. At Blakeney Mr. Dowell
notes their appearance, in their usual breeding places,
by the end of March, and in the first week in April he
has found many nests already for laying, though as yet
without eggs; but, from the frequent occurrence of empty
nests, sometimes four or five immediately around one
containing eggs, he believes these birds are accustomed
to make many nest holes before selecting one to lay in.
When staying at Hunstanton in 1863, I found several
birds sitting, on the 16th of May, whilst others, from
their actions, had evidently young ones; yet a female
that I dissected on the 19th contained one shelled egg,
just ready for exclusion (of a pale green colour, with
the usual spots), and four yelks of a bright yellow,
graduating in size, besides a considerable cluster of
un-impregnated eggs. Judging, therefore, from the state
of the ovaries, and the plumage of this specimen, I
should say that it was then about to lay for the first
time that season.

So great a difference in the date of nesting in dif-
ferent individuals of the same species — for the birds of
the warren and the coast are identical — has led some
authors"^ to question the accuracy of Mr. Salmon's
statement that he had found their eggs by the 30th of
March, but this apparent discrepancy may, I think,

* Mr. Harting, in his "Birds of Middlesex," shows evident
doubts on this point, never having found their eggs either on the
Sussex or Lancashire coast earher than the beginning of May, and
still later in Northumberland, from which he infers that the more
northward the breeding ground the later the period of incubation.

90 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

be explained by the fact that, with us the ringed-
plover is both resident and migratory. In autumn the
birds of the warrens retire to the coast, and swell the
numbers of those which have passed their summer by
the sea. On Breydon, also, as Mr. F. Frere informs me,
both young and old make their appearance by the end
of August"^ or beginning of September (some young birds
returning sooner than others), at which time their flocks
consist undoubtedly of migrants from more northern
localitiesf as well as partial migrants from our own in-
land districts. A large proportion of these again pass on
to the southward, though some still remain, throughout
the autumn and winter, at times consorting with dunlins J

* Mr. Cordeaxix, in his "Notes from l^orth LincolnsMre" for
1867 (" Zoologist," B. s., p. 945), says " Hundi-eds of these little
fellows made their appearance in the first week of August. These
flocks contained an unusual number of dunlins." A small family
of sis, as an advanced guard, had been also observed on the 27th
of July.

f This species is included by Mr. Alfred Newton in his Ust of
the "Birds of Spitsbergen" ("Ibis," 1865, p. 504), and on the
authority of Dr. Malmgren, he states " that Professors Torell and
Nordenskjold, found on one of the Seven Islands, in lat. 80° 45' N.,
a brood of ringed plovers, which had probably been bred on one
of these, the most northern islets of the known world." Their
plaintive whistle has been also distinguished, amongst others, in
those large nocturnal flights before alluded to under the head of
golden plover ; and in one instance (see ante p. 72, note) the
ringed plover is specially named as one of the species picked
up and identified.

X This habit, as shown by Thompson (" Birds of Ireland," vol. ii.,
p. 101) " is fatal to them ; for when by themselves the fiocks are so
small as to be considered unworthy of the fowler's notice ; but when
in company with the other, which usually go in large bodies, and
consequently are 'worth a charge of powder and shot,' both are
slain together." Mr. J. H. Gurney, however, who has recently had
many opportunities of observing this species on the coast of South
Wales and Somersetshire, where, in October and November, they
appear in large numbers — sometimes over one hundred in a flock —

EINGED PLOVER. 91

(Tringa variabilis), and even during the intense frost,
which lasted for several days in January, 1862, I ob-
served several ringed plover on Breydon, when the half
starved dunlins were being slaughtered by hundreds.

About the middle of February, in mild seasons, but
more ordinarily at the beginning of March, these birds
again make their appearance on Breydon in large
flocks, though at that time, as Mr. Frere states, they
are always extremely shy ; and it is just at this
early period of the spring that their melodious whistle
is once more heard on the wan-ens, and they are found
" taking to" the beach by the Salthouse gunners. Occa-
sionally, also, their " overland route" is marked at that
period by the appearance of stragglers on the banks of
oui' rivers, far from their usual haunts, as on the 23rd
of March, 1862, when a single bird was shot in a meadow,
at Heigham, near Norwich. Some weeks later, how-
ever, usually about the first or second week in May,
a second flight make their appearance on Breydon,
arriving at the same time with the knots, godwits, and
grey plover, which are then hm-rying northwards to
their distant breeding grounds, and that a portion of
these, never very numerous, should remain on our shores,
attracted by the presence of their own kindred, is not
only, I think, a plausible theory, but one which would
account for the late period at which their eggs may be
met with, quite apart from any casualties or even second
broods.

has remarked that in such quantities they keep entirely separate
from the dunlins or any other species. He has also noticed that
" ringed plover are often seen in locaUties where the beach is not
sufficiently muddy to attract stints, and that when the tide is falling
both the ringed plover and sanderUngs begin to feed at an earlier
period of the ebb than the stints, and remain nearer the shingle,
generally not going down so close to the ebbing waves as the
stints do."
N 2

92 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

My own observation of tlie habits of this species has
been confined entirely to their seaside haunts, where their
presence lends a charm to the most monotonous range of
sand and shingle. Many an hour have I spent amongst
them on the Hunstanton sand-hills, with no sense of
loneliness, but, revelling in the enjoyment of liberty and
leisure, have felt all the enthusiasm of Macgillivray when
he writes, '^ There is the broad blue sea, on that hand the
green pasture, under foot and around the pure sand, above
the sunny sky. Frown not upon the cheerfulness of
nature; shout aloud, run, leap, make the sand-lark thy
playmate. "Why mayest thou not be drunk with draughts
of pure ether ?" Here their nests are placed not only on
the beach itself, but on the margins of those little tide-
washed plains between the sand-hills, where the storm
waves in winter have broken through and, far above the
ordinary high water-mark, have strewn the surface with
the dehris of shells and seaweeds. As on the warrens, a
simple hollow in the sand forms the only nest, and, in
such localities, as described by Hewitson, the eggs are
not unfrequently screened from view by the long mar-
ram and other grasses, that wave over them.

The grey tints of their plumage, as well as the colour
of their eggs, resemble so nearly the shingle on the beach,
that it is difficult for any but a practiced eye to detect
either, and usually the clear whistle of this plover, as
it rises close at hand, is the first intimation of its pre-
sence. If searching, however, for eggs in any known
breeding place, the spot should be carefully marked from
whence the bird first starts, when, after running rapidly
for some distance, it either stops suddenly in an attitude
of apparent indifference, or, rising on the wing, betakes
itself to some farther and generally higher ridge of
shingle. What a model for our bird-stulfers it then
presents, with its head drawn back between the shoulders,
the feathers of the body well puffed out — a round com-

RINGED PLOVEK. 93

pact Kttle figure with repose in every feature. Again,
as we approach, it is all life and action, the head
thrown well forward, and the breast carried close to the
ground. A little quick run precedes the spreading of
its wings, and, with a rapid sweeping flight, perhaps
whistling as it flies, it seeks some further station. Once
more alighting, the wings are closed, a few quick steps
exhaust the impetus of its flight, and the former attitude
is re-assumed. In feeding, also, by the water's edge,
or on a smooth tract of sand left bare by the tide, its
quick nervous actions and particularly the rapid move-
ments of the feet, are extremely interesting ; with now a
little run and then a stop to pick up some tiny atom of
food, reminding one somewhat of a thrush searching for
worms on a grassplot after a heavy shower. The food
of this species, at least on the coast, consists chiefly of
minute hard shelled molusca, and small shrimps and
sand-hoppers. I have also found in their stomachs
numerous small white worms, about half an inch in
length, mixed with a few gritty substances. It so
happens that I have never witnessed any of the art-
ful devices, described by Macgillivray as adopted by
this plover, to decoy intruders from the nest, but
my own experience quite agrees with the statement
of Mr. J. E. Garrett, as pubhshed by Thompson in his
" Birds of Ireland " (vol. ii., p. 98), that the hen bird
when sitting on her eggs does not make any cry
as she runs off, but that once the young are hatched
both parents become very clamorous when disturbed.
At such times their anxiety is evinced by an irregular
pitching flight, and somewhat altered note, resembling
the word "pen-y-et," pronounced as three syllables,
with a strong emphasis on the first and last. Whilst
on the warrens, the ringed-plover is known as the
" stonehatch," on all parts of our coast it is termed the
" stonerunner," and at Salthouse dogs are commonly

04 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

employed by tlie beachmen to find their nests,'^ wbich
they do by scent, standing at each Tintil the man
comes up to examine it. But here, probably, owing to
the close system of egging, which has prevailed for so
many years, I have never found the full complement of
four eggs, and the beachmen inform me that they rarely
find more than three. Some few fragments of shell or
shingle may be seen in their nest-holes as in those on
the warrens, but on the beach this singular custom would
probably pass unnoticed, since the small surrounding
pebbles may be so easily swept in by accident. The
young, which run almost from their birth, are quite as
difficult to find as the eggs, squatting close on the least
sign of danger amongst the larger pebbles, to which the
colours of their nestling plumage so closely assimilate.
Specimens of these little creatures, sent me from Salt-
house in their downy state, have the back of the head,
neck all round, and the under parts generally, pure
white ; the forehead and crown (the latter bordered by
a conspicuous narrow black band, across the occiput) the
back and wing coverts, mottled with shades of light and
dark grey, tinged in places with yellowish brown. By
the beginning of August, however, both old and young,
scarcely a bird remaining, leave the Salthouse shingles,
and seek the more prolific feeding grounds at the mouths
of such tidal channels as Blakeney and Cley ; or in little
family groups may be found roving along the coast, and
feeding amongst the weed-covered rocks, left bare at low
water as at Sherringham and Cromer.

Many of my readers are probably aware that the

* According to Yarrell (2nd ed., vol. ii., p. 471), when visiting
Hastings, iu 1833, he found the same system of using dogs for
egg gathering was commonly adopted on the shores of Kent and
Sussex.

RINGED PLOVER. 95

naturalists at Brighton,'^ and other parts of tlie south
coast, have for some years distinguished a smaller race
of ringed plovers, which make their appearance in May
and again in August, and are said to differ also in note
from the ordinary kind, which have eggs and even
young, at times, before the arrival of these later mi-
grants. It is not, however, I believe generally known
that this smaller race is occasionally killed on Breydon ;
and I believe for the most part in May, although a
recently killed specimen was shown me on the 11th of
March, 1867. Unfortunately I have had no opportunity
of examining these birds in the flesh, and cannot
say, therefore, if there is any difference in plumage
between males and females, or give sufficiently accu-
rate measurements for comparison with those of the

* Mr. G. D. Rowley, writing from Brighton ("Ibis," 1860, p.
101) naentions particularly the existence of two kinds of ringed
plover, at Shoreham harbour, the smaller of which he evidently
confounded at that time with the httle ringed plover of authors
(Charadrius tninor), from which, however, it is clearly distinct.
In the same journal for 1865 (p. 465), Mr. 0. A. Wright, in his
" Second appendix to a Ust of birds obtained in Malta and Gozo,"
states that the ringed plover, procured by him at Malta (where they
begin to appear in March), agree " in every particular of siae and
colour," with the smaller race procured at Brighton. He is not
aware if the larger one is ever found in Southern Europe, but the
true httle ringed plover (G. minor), he includes amongst the
regular visitants to Malta and Gozo ("Ibis," 1864, p. 141.) In a
foot note, also, to Mr. Wright's paper, as quoted above (p. 465),
the editor of the " Ibis," suggests that the smaller race of ringed-
plover " probably bears the same relation to Mgialites hiaticula
that Tringa schinzi does to T. alpina, and is inclined to beheve that
this bird is identical with the Charadrius intermedins of Menetries
(Cat. Voy. au Caucase, p. 53), " which he found to be not rare on the
river Lenkoranka, near the Caspian." He farther adds that a
specimen procured from Natal by Mr. J. H. Gurney agrees "in
every essential respect " with those of the small race from Brighton
and Shoreham. See also " Ibis," 1865, p. 432.

96 BIRDS OF NOKFOLK.

larger race. I am desirous, however, to draw the special
attention of Yarmouth ornithologists to this subject,
that the habits of this smaller race may be closely
observed ; more particularly as to the date of its arrival
in spring and autumn, and whether seen, at such times,
in separate flocks or in company with the larger kind.
I am not certain that the smaller race has ever been
found breeding on the south coast, but in this county
I have looked for it in vain during the nesting season,
and, as before stated, the birds of the warrens are iden-
tical with those which frequent the seashore. All the
Norfolk examples, also, of this smaller ringed plover
that I have yet seen in collections, have been killed at
Yarmouth, including one in the Dennis collection at
Bury St. Edmund's. Judging from specimens of each
bird in my own and the museum collection, the larger
bird differs rather in its general bulk, than in the
comparative length of wings, feet, or legs. The smaller
ringed plover, as far as one can tell from stuffed speci-
mens, has not the large round head and broad forehead
of the ordinary race ; the dark markings on the head and
breast, are more pure and sharply defined ; the whole of
the upper surface of the plmnage is darker in tint ; and
the bird has altogether a brighter and more dapper
appearance. The outer tail feathers, in all that I have
seen, have a dusky spot or two on the inner web, which is
always white in the larger birds ; the character of the
beak appears much the same in both races, having the
base of the upper and lower mandible yellow, which
colour is permanent after death, but although there is
scarcely any difference in the size of the legs and feet,
the claws in the smaller birds are remarkably fine and
long as compared with those of the larger race.

Mr. Lubbock's note on the Little Ringed Plover
[Charadrius Tnmor, Meyer) to the effect that " two speci-
mens of this bird in the Norwich museum, were believed

LITTLE EINGED PLOVER KENTISH PLOVER. 97

by Mr. Denny, the curator, to liave been killed in the
county, but the fact was not noted down at the time,"
is far too vague to entitle it to a place in the Norfolk
^^list," since in no other instance is it known to have
occurred on our eastern coast."^ One only of those
referred to by Mr. Lubbock, and that in a rather dilapi-
dated condition (British series. No. 194), is now in
existence. As it is quite possible, however, that this
smaller species has been overlooked, it may be as
well to point out its chief peculiarities of plumage as
described by Mr. Harting, from a specimen killed by
himself at Kingsbury. The base of the under mandible
only is tinged with yellow, which is lost altogether in
preserved specimens, and, though the outer tail feather
on each side has spots on the inner web, "the shaft of the
first quill feather, only, in the wing is white; and the
white spots which are always present on the webs of the
wing-feathers in the common species, and which give
the appearance of a white bar across the wing in flight,
are in the little ringed-plover absent." Merely the tips
of the wing-feathers are margined with dull white.

CHARADRIUS CANTIANUS, Latham.

KENTISH PLOYEE.

The earliest record I can find of this species having
been recognised on the Norfolk coast, is contained in
a paper by the late Mr. Tarrell, in the ^^ Zoological
Journal" for 1827 (vol. iii., p. 86), "on the occurrence of

* In tlie sale catalogue of Mr. Stephen Miller's Yarmoutli col-
lection, Lot 62 is entered as " kentish plover and little dotterel"
but from enquiries made of those best acquainted with this coUec-
lection I have no reason to suppose that this was other than the
common ringed plover.
O

98 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

some rare Britisli Birds," in whicli he notices the recent
occurrence of two immature specimens at Yarmouth,
and describes the difference in their plumage as com-
pared with examples, at the same age, of Charadrius
hiaticula. Of our local authors, Hunt includes it for
the first time in his list of "Norfolk Birds," pub-
lished in Stacy's history of the county in 1829 ; and
under the name of the " Alexandrine plover," states that
" a beautiful one in the Norwich museum was killed at
Yarmouth.""^ When once it had been pointed out
as a rarity, however, and its distinctive features made
known, the Breydon gunners seem to have had no
difficulty in supplying specimens to collectors. In
the notes kindly supplied me by Mr. Joseph Clarke,
of Saffron Walden, I find one recorded as shot at
Yarmouth, on the 1st of May, 1831 (also noticed in Sir
W. Hooker's MS.) ; and of two specimens in the Saffiron
Walden museum, from the same locality, one was pro-
cured on the 1st of January, 1834, the other on the 1st
of February, 1836. Mr. Clarke also states that about
the same time in 1834 Mr. Hoy received one from
Yarmouth, but Mr. Hoy's collection, according to
Dr. Bree ("Field," vol. xxx., p. 465), does not now
contain a specimen of this bird. Mr. Eyton, in his
"History of the Rarer British Birds," published in
1836, says (p. 100) that he possesses " two specimens of
this bird, obtained near Yarmouth ;" and Mr. Gould
informs me that when he first began to collect British
birds, over thirty years ago, he was in the habit of
receiving weekly a basket of sandpipers and plovers
from the same locality, supplied by Harvey, a dealer at
Yarmouth, who at that time used to purchase specimens

* In the British series of the Norwich tauseum are three
examples of this plover, but none of them seem likely to have
answered this description even when first mounted.

KENTISH riiOVER. 99

from tlie various gunners both on the coast and broads ;
and amongst the different kinds sent up in May were " a
good sprinkling of Kentish plovers." In Mr. Spalding's
collection at Westleton, is a fine adult male, purchased
bj him at Yarmouth, some five and twenty years ago ;
and Mr. Newcome, of Feltwell, possesses one from
Yarmouth and another from Lowestoft, the neighbour-
ing seaport on the Suffolk coast. In the ^' Zoologist"
for 1843 (p. 181) Mr. W. E. Fisher makes the following
remarks on a male of this species brought to him on
the 17th of April: — "It was killed on a small lump of
stones and shingle, which is, I believe, the only spot
on Breydon left uncovered, except by very high tides.
I mention this circumstance as corroborative of the
attachment which this bird is said to show to stony
ground, in preference to sand or mud." In the same
journal also for 1849 (p. 2499), Mr. Gurney has recorded
the occurrence of one or two Kentish plover at Yarmouth
during the month of June. Two adult birds from
Yarmouth, in the Dennis collection, at Bury, were
obtained, no doubt, within the last fifteen years ; and in
my own notes since 1850 I find the following entries : —

1852. First week in May, one on Breydon.

1855. May 8th, one on Burgh-flats, near Yarmouth.

1859. May 6th, one on Breydon.

1861. April 24th, one on Burgh-flats, in the collec-
tion of the Eev. C. J. Lucas.
A pair, also killed on Breydon the same spring,
are in the possession of Mr. Overend of
Yarmouth.
September 1st, one at Sherringham.

1865. April, one shot on Yarmouth beach, in the col-
lection of Mr. E. S. Preston, of Yarmouth.

1867. April, one at Lynn.

These, of course, represent a portion only of the
specimens actually procured in Norfolk during that
o 2

100 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

period (altliough showing tlieir usual time of appearance
and the localities they mostly frequent), yet whilst so
large a proportion have been killed in the neighbour-
hood of Yarmouth, where they are so keenly watched
for, there is no reason, I think, to infer that they do
not also visit other parts of the coast, where they are
far less likely to be distinguished from the more common
species.

Mr. Frere informs me that, although observed on
Breydon only in small numbers, scarcely a year passes
without one or more examples being obtained in that
neighbourhood, either in spring or autumn. In the
former season they seem to arrive by the end of April or
beginning of May (as shown by the above list, most
frequently in the latter month) in company with other
migrants passing I'apidly northward at that period. On
their return passage they are again seen, occasionally,
about the first week in September, and stragglers, at
times, even in the winter months. The fact, however,
of this species having been seen in June, as recorded by
Mr. Gurney, is no proof that it has ever remained to
breed in this county (although it is quite jjossible that
it may have done so unobserved), its appearance, at such
times, being most probably accidental, as is the case
also with the sanderling, turnstone, and grey plover, of
which individuals may be seen, at chance times, during
every month of the year.

I have not had the opportunity of examining speci-
mens of this bird in the flesh, but Mr. Gould describes
the bill and legs as hard and black, whilst the same
parts in the ringed plover are pulpy and yellow ; and in
all plumages the former may be recognised by the white
of the breast extending upwards to the chin, without
any interruption, which is not the case with the ringed
plover, even in its immature state.

GKEY PLOVER. 101

SQUATAROLA CINEREA (Flem.)
GREY PLOVER.

Grey Plover, though as compared with the golden
at no time very numerous, visit us regularly in
autumn, and usually make their appearance on Breydon
and other parts of the coast, about the first week in
October. Mr. Dowell, however, states that in August,
1852, he observed several frequenting the " freshes " at
Blakeney, which still retained their full summer plumage,
and I have occasionally seen young birds in September
as early as the 17th, which at that time exhibited, in
their first plumage, a great resemblance to the golden
plover, for which I have no doubt in this stage, they are
frequently mistaken.^ One of these, in my own collec-
tion, killed on the 22nd of September, 1853, has all those
portions of the upper parts of the plumage, which are
usually white in the adult bird, more or less tinged
with straw colour, resembling in this respect an example
figured by Audubon in his " Birds of America." The
large size of the bill, the presence of the hind toe, and
the long feathers under the wing being black instead
of white, as in the golden plover, distinguish this species
at any age.

A few are seen on Breydon throughout the winter,
but, as Mr. Frere informs me, not often as many as
twenty or thirty at a time. Mr. Dowell describes them
as seen mostly in pairs, which, joined to their shyness,
renders them "much less profitable to the fowler than
the golden plover, and they are, moreover, a great

* Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, who include this species in
their " Catalogue" under the name of the " Swiss sandpiper," men-
tion the "yellow spots" of autumnal specimens, but evidently
under the impression that this plumage is assumed by the old
birds at that season and not confined to the young of the year.

102 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

plague to the gunners by putting up other birds." He
also adds that, although rarely congregating amongst
themselves,"^ "they delight to consort with dunlins,
knots, or indeed any birds of that kind." The grey
plover differs also from the golden, in being essen-
tially a bird of the coast, stragglers only, and those
very rarely, being seen inland, as, in October, 1847,
when a single bird was shot between Swaffham and
Hilborough, as recorded in Mr. Dowell's notes; and
Mr. Newcome shot one at Feltwell some years back,
the only one he has ever seen in that neighbourhood.
About the first week in May these plover again make
their appearance on their way northward, having at
that time nearly completed their full summer dress, f
and in cold backward seasons, such as that of 1853,
many beautiful specimens are procured on Breydon,
with the red knots and godwits, as late as the 20th or
24th of that month. On the 20th of May in that year
I purchased one of the most perfect specimens in full
nuptial plmnage, I ever saw ; the beautifully marbled
appearance of the back and wing coverts contrasting
with the pure black of the neck and breast, and the
white contmuing from the forehead downwards, so as to
margin the black on the neck and breast on either side,
as far as the point of the wing.

On the 1st of July, 1854, I was shown a bird of this
species, which had been shot at Yarmouth only the day
before ; and in the first week of June, 1863, I met with

* Lord Lilford, in his " Notes on birds observed in tbe Ionian
Islands, &c." (" Ibis," 1860, p. 339), describes a singular habit in
this species, which seems to have escaped hitherto the notice of
ornithologists, that of "throwing somersaults in the air, in the
same manner as the tumbler pigeon and roller."

t Mr. Fenwick Hele in the " Field " (vol. sxix., p. 389) states
that on the 2nd of May, 1867, he received " five perfect specimens
of the grey plover in full dress," killed near Aldeburgh, Suffolk.

LAPWING. 103

one or two at Hunstanton, with dunlins and sander-
lings and, about the same time, as Captain Longe
informed me, others were observed on Breydon. Yet
from these unusually late, but accidental occurrences,
there is no reason to suppose that the grey plover ever
remains to breed with us.

There is little doubt, I think, as suggested by Mr. J.
H. Gurney, that the " white plovs," which occur once
in the " Household Accounts " of the L'Estrange's, of
Hunstanton, with other shore birds such as redshanks,
'^ stynts," and " sedotterel," were of this species in their
winter plumage.

VANELLUS CRISTATUS (Meyer.)

LAPWING.

At the present day it is only tlirough the "tales
of a grandfather," or the traditionary lore of some
octogenarian, that one can arrive at any conception of
the former abundance of this species, whose numbers
for the last half century, at least, have been gradually
but surely decreasing. We must carry our minds back
to a period, by no means remote, when heath, warren,
and fen occupied in this county about the same pro-
portion that cultivated land does now, when, as has been
elsewhere stated "less than one hundred years ago,
Norfolk did not produce enough wheat to feed its scanty
population." When, even in the " Enclosed" district,
wide tracts of heath extended for miles tlirough the inland
portions, and an even wilder country as at Edgefield,
Kelling, Weybourn, and Salthouse, adjoining the coast,
was divided only by the then undrained marshes from
the sea-shore. When, on the east and west, the

104 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

" Broad" and "Fen" districts, but little cultivated, were
the fowler's paradise, and the "Breck" district with its
heaths, warrens, and sheepwalks — then, as now, the
great stronghold of the lapwing and stone-curlew —
presented a vast champain country with scarce a fence,
fir-slip, or plantation, over thousands of acres,^ divided
only by "mere balks" to mark the rights of tenure.
Comparing, then, the present with the past condition
of this great agricultural county, we can scarcely wonder
at the effect which drainage, enclosure, and high farming
have had upon the harmless lapwing ; nor has its perse-
cution been confined only to the inroads of the plough,
since the wholesale plunder of its eggs for edible pur-
poses, must lead eventually, I fear, to its extinction
as a resident amongst us. On this point, even as far
back as 1836, Mr. Salmon remarks — when writing of
the arrival of this species at Thetford, with other
migrants in spring, "they are at present tolerably
numerous, although, of late years, very much decreased
in consequence of their eggs being so successfully
gathered to a very late period during the breeding
season by persons who are adepts in discovering their
nests." In the neighbourhood of Holt, some thirty or
forty years back, as Mr. Edwards informs me, their
eggs were taken in considerable quantities, including
many also of the stone-curlew, though at that time,
from the difficulty of transit, but a small proportion
of them reached the inland markets, yet now, on the
same ground, only a few scattered pairs can be found
in a season. At Westacre in like manner, and par-
ticularly on East Walton common, the amount of eggs
reputed to have been taken, in favourable seasons, is

* In tlie 3rd edition of " "WTiite's Gazetteer of Norfolk," it is
stated that " two hundi'ed thousand acres of commons and sandy
heaths have been enclosed during the last ninety years."

LAPWING. 105

something almost incredible, whilst from long habit
the men accustomed to seek for these nests could tell
in an instant by the actions of the birds not only the
males from the females, but whether the eggs, in any
nest, were fresh or sat upon, or the young hatched -^"^
and however astonishing it may seem to the novice, so
easily misled by the many allurements of the parents,
these noted eggers would walk direct to each nest, with
the greatest certainty, though some half-dozen pairs of
old birds might be on the wing at one time.

In the "Broad" district, as stated by Mr. Lubbock, a
single egger, residing at Potter Heigham, took in 1821,
" a hundred and sixty dozenf in the adjacent marshes,"
and the Messrs. Paget, writing in 1834 of the abund-
ance of this plover, in the marshes near Yarmouth, as at
Oby, Thurne, and Acle, state that Isaac Harvey, the
Yarmouth game-dealer, was then in the habit of sending
"between six hundred and seven hundred eggs to the
London and other markets every week during the

* The late Mr. Selby, who had opportunities of observing this
species in Norfolk as well as in other counties, referring to the
expertness of those accustomed to search for their nests, says
that they generally judge of their situation " by the conduct of the
female birds, who invariably upon beiug disturbed, run from the
eggs, and then fly near to the ground for a short distance without
uttering any alarm cry. The males on the contrary are very
clamorous, and fly round the intruder, endeavouring by various
instinctive arts to divert his attention." The Rev. G. Low, in his
" Fauna Orcadensis," describing the nest of the lapwing as a mere
hollow scraped in the ground, and subsequently lined with bits of
straw and bents, remarks " that this is often observed as a token
ivhether the eggs are fresh or not, for when the nest is quite finished
the incubation is pretty well advanced."

f YarreU, on the authority of Mr. Plomley, records the fact
that, in the season of 1839, " two hundred dozens of plovers' eggs
were sent from Romney marsh to Dover;" dogs being trained for
the purpose of finding them.
P

106 BIKDS OF NOEFOLK.

season." These, however, by no means consisted only
of lapwing's eggs, as those of redshanks, reeves, snipes,
and black terns were indiscriminately gathered, and too
often, as Mr. Lubbock laments, without leaving a single
egg in the nest to encourage the birds to keep on
laying. In the Hockwold and Feltwell fens, as Mr. Alfred
Newton informs me the eggs of "starns" (black terns,
Sterna jissijpes) were taken in former times to place in
the lapwings' nests, and the latter would ^^lay to"
them. The great demand, however, for plovers' eggs,
even when formerly abundant, is best shown by the
prices realised ;'^ and at threepence and fourpence a piece
one can scarcely wonder at the over zeal of the gatherers.
In 1845, Mr. Lubbock speaks of eightpence each
being given for the earliest, and that the price then
rarely fell below three shillings a dozen ; yet in the
present year, when scarcely a dozen or two were sent
to the Norwich market, they could be purchased at
four shillings. In their present scarcity, however, the
eggs of the black-headed gull (Larus ridihundus) locally
termed " peewits" (which no doubt aids the deception)
are not unfrequently sold for the rarer lapwings' ;
and it is not a little difficult to convince those who
have thus been gulled, that plovers' eggs, in a market-
able sense, mean an}' kinds at all approaching them
in size, shape, or colour. As ground-breeders also,
the lapwings have other enemies than man ; but
the male bird exhibits great courage in defence of its
nest, as graphically described by Mr. Salmon in the
following passage from his Thetford notes : — " Stationed
on a slight eminence in its vicinity, he no sooner espies

* According to Pennant in 1776 the London poulterers supplied
these eggs at three shillings a dozen, and in 1812 Daniel, in his
" Rural Sports," gives four shillings a dozen as the price, then, in
the London markets.

LAPWING. 107

a rook, a hawk, or any bird, however large, approaching
in the direction of the nest than he immediately makes
up to it, and by a series of buifetings compels it to alter
its course."

As to their present distribution, they may still be
described as scattered pretty numerously throughout
the breeding season over the entire " Fen " district,
and are seen there in winter in considerable flocks,
migrating constantly from one part to another, with
every change of weather. On the great fields, also,
in the neighbourhood of Swaffham, more particu-
larly about Castleacre, Walton, and Westacre, they
are plentiful as compared with other localities, but have
decreased considerably during the past few years, and
on the '^ Meals " and marshes bordering on the coast
where they were once so abundant, a few pairs only are
seen, here and there, where some little protection is
afforded. In the summer of 1863, in the long range
of fresh water marshes between Holme and Hunstanton,
I observed but two pairs during the whole of my visit,
and both their nests had been by some means destroyed.
Like the ringed plover the lapwings migrate to the
inland warrens in spring, and breed on Thetford and
Beachamwell, though from the testimony both of Mr.
Bartlett and Mr. Dugmore, they are now seen only in
scores instead of hundreds as formerly. In about the
same proportion also, at West Harling, they still nest
on the "Breck" lands in that neighbourhood with the
stone-curlew, as do also a few pairs on the high grounds
at Thorpe and Mousehold, as well as in the low meadows
at Bowthorpe, Cossey, and Colney, near Norwich; and
on Flordon common, in the spring of 1868, some six
or seven pairs remained to breed. In the " Broad "
district the falling off in their numbers is very marked.
Drainage and egging combined have here almost exter-
minated them in places, and throughout the great extent
p 2

108 BIRDS OF NOKFOLK.

of marshes between Norwich and Yarmouth, once so
noted for our grallatorial residents, the lapwing has
become ahnost as scarce as the redshank, and the ruff is
no longer seen. The two former, however, still find
congenial quarters in that wilder district bordering on
the Bure, where, closely massed together, the Broads,
large and small, have suffered but little change in their
normal features. Here, too, at Hoveton, is shown what
protection, aided by such natural advantages, may effect
even now for the wilder denizens of the marsh, and
whilst other localities are all but deserted, Mr. Blofeld
is more than repaid for his watchful care, in listening to
the mingled notes of his proteges, and observing their
habits on his own estate.

At the close of the breeding season both young and
old leave the warrens and high grounds, and are found
in flocks in the low meadows (to which they are par-
ticularly partial when slightly flooded), and on all parts
of the coast. Many are seen throughout the winter,
though constantly shifting their ground, and in very
severe frost they would seem to leave us for awhile ; but
are seldom absent for any length of time. That the
number of our residents is largely increased in autumn
and winter by migratory flocks from the north, we have
the evidence of their unmistakeable cries, mingled with
the whistle of the golden plover as they pass in masses
over our cities by night (see ante p. 70) ; and on various
dates in September, October, and November, Mr. Dowell
has observed this species arriving m small flocks on the
coast at Blakeney, at times, during heavy north and
north-east winds " coming over " all day ; and after re-
cruiting their strength proceeding further inland. Their
numbers at times also, late in the season, are far beyond
the amount we might presume to be reared in these
parts under the most favourable circumstances, and
the Yarmouth gunners regard their abundance in winter

LAPWING. 109

as a good omen for sport, '* no wypes* no fowl " being
with them a common expression.

However monotonous, the wail of the peewit in its wild
haunts has a charm for the ear of the lover of nature,
and the sterile heath or wide level range of marshy
ground is enhvened by its actions, whether watchfully
listening with erected crest, or hovering and tumbling
with its humming wings and strangely varied flight.

It is curious to find so accurate an observer as
the late Mr. St. Johnf describing the lapwing as
*' altogether a nocturnal bird as to feeding," since with
us, at least, the contrary may be observed at all seasons,
both inland and on the coast. At West Harling, some
two or three years ago, in the early spring, I observed
ten or twelve pairs in the middle of the day, all
busily feeding on some recently ploughed land, and
about the same time of year I once shot four out of
a small flock on the cliffs, near Cromer, which, in
like manner, were so deeply engaged that I crept
up within range before they saw me. On moonlight
nights, Hke the stone-curlew, they are on the wing,
uttering their cries for hours, and I have also heard
them in spring, with the " drumming " snipe, as
late as ten or eleven o'clock, when too dark to dis-
tinguish anything. As pets for the aviary and garden,
lapwings are both useful and ornamental, destroying
large numbers of worms, grubs, and insects, and from
their handsome plumage and pretty attitudes are very-
attractive. They are also particularly sociable birds,
one captive not unfrequently attracting others of its

* As will be seen by tbe extracts from the Northumberland
and other " Household Books," this is an old English term for the
lapwing or peewit, and " wipa," is stUl its Swedish name at the
present day.

t "Wild Sports of the Highlands," p. 135.

110

BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

kind. Of this, two curious instances occurred last year
(1867), as Mr. Gurney informs me — one at Mr. Henry
Birkbeck's at Stoke, and the other at Mr. Gurney
Buxton's at Catton, some lapwings, netted in the
Lincolnshire marshes having', in both places, been
turned into a walled-in garden. At Stoke, one of the
birds, not sufficiently pinioned, made its escape, but
instead of deserting its companions returned with others
of its own species ; and at Catton other wild specimens
joined the captives in the garden of their own accord.
As a proof of the occasional longevity of this species,
Mr. Barlow, of Bintree, records in the ^'Naturalist"
for 1853 (p. 82), the death through accident of a peewit,
which had been " fourteen years in captivity, in a walled-
in garden at Yarrow, the seat of Lady Townsend, in the
parish of Bintry, Norfolk." The habit attributed by
most authors to this species of attracting worms to the
surface by jarring the ground with their feet, is alto-
gether repudiated by Mudie,^ who takes much pains
to prove its impossibility, but the following anecdote,
given by the late Bishop Stanley in his "Familiar
History of Birds," seems strangely confirmatory of their
sagacity in this respect. A young lapwing in confine-
ment was supplied in addition to its common food, with
a few square pieces of turf six or seven inches in
thickness, on which were thrown a number of garden-
worms, which buried themselves in the sods ; care being
taken to keep them moist by waterings. " The lapwing,
when disposed for a meal, mounted one of these sods,
and, standing on one leg, kept regularly heating the turf
with the other.'*

Varieties are not often met with, but Mr. Salmon
("Mag. Nat. Hist.," 1836, p. 521), records the appear-
ance during two successive seasons, of a white specimen

* " Feathered Tribes of the British Islands," 4th ed., vol. ii., p. 132.

PLOVER NETTING IN THE FENS. Ill

on Thetford warren; a female "having the usual
markings clearly depicted by light and dark shades."

The following notes on plover-netting, as still prac-
tised on the opposite shores of the Wash, have been
most obhgingly supphed me by Mr. T. "W. Foster,
of the Wisbeach Museum, and from the novelty of the
method described, and the gi-adual relinquishment of
such arts and devices at the present day, cannot fail to
be interesting to many of my readers : —

Plover Netting in the Fens.

The capture of birds by means of a net has long been
practised by fowlers in the fens of Cambridgeshire, near
Wisbeach, and has, in days gone by, been a very lucrative
occupation. The birds so taken are principally waders,
and include dunlins, knots, ruffs and reeves, redshanks,
lapwings, golden plover, and occasionally curlews and
black and bar-tailed godwits. On one occasion within
the last twelve years a small flock of nine dusky sand-
pipers or spotted redshanks (Totanus fuscus) was so
obtained, and I purchased them alive. The Zoological
Society's Gardens have frequently been enriched by
fen-birds which have been caught by nets in this
locality. The nets are brought into requisition twice in
the year, viz., at Michaelmas (September and October)
and Lady-day (March and April) at which periods the
birds visit the washes. I personally know one fowler
who has taken as many as four dozen and nine lapwings
at one time, and twenty-four dozen in the course of a
single day. The market price of this species is sixpence
each.* Gruyhirn and Whittlesea washes were at one time

* Although, compared with the golden plover, not ranking very
high as a delicacy for the table, the lapvring appears to have been
greatly esteemed in former times. In the " Account Book" of the
Purser of the priory of Durham (1530 to 1634), we find " 3 plovers

112 BTKDS OF NORFOLK.

periodically flooded, and many varieties of wild fowl
visited them. Since the improved drainage of those
parts of the fens, it is seldom that the washes are natur-
ally flooded, and the fowler's occupation would be gone
were not artificial means adopted. This latter mode of
flooding is by means of a " slacker" or small sluice,
through which water is admitted, and an area of eight
to twelve acres is thus covered with water from six to
eight inches in depth. In one portion of this lake the
fowler constructs a small island about thirty- six feet in
length and from four to five feet in breadth. Upon this his
net is spread, which is stained the colour of the ground,
and its meshes proportioned to the size of the birds
he is likely to take; some nets having meshes one
and a-half inch, and others three inches in size. The
fowler keeps some live '' decoy " birds (lapwings or ruffs)
and a dozen stuffed skins or ^' stales," and these are
placed on the island, close outside the range of the net.
The living birds being tethered, are made to flutter their
wings, whilst the fowler with a whistle imitates the
-call of the birds on the Wash ; they are thus tempted
to alight on the island, and are ultimately captured.
The net, covering the surface, is so arranged that the
fowler, who sits at a distance of upwards of two hundred
yards, by means of a strmg attached to pullies, throws
over the net, and the birds are jerked into the water and
covered by it. The fowler rapidly approaches, and either
takes the birds alive, or at once breaks their necks and

et 1 wype, 5d. ;" " 1 plover et 1 snype, 2^d., and in the INorthum-
berland " Household Book " (1512), it is especially ordered that
" wypes be hade for my lordes own mees, only, and to be at jd. a
pece." Again in the "Household Book" of the Lord North (1577),
viij doos and x pewytts are entered at v''- xvijs- yuj^- ; and in a
list of market prices, quoted by Mr. Lubbock from " Wade's
Chronological History of Great Britain," the cost of a peewit, in
1633, was tenpence, and a dozen tame pigeons only sixpence?

TURNSTONE. 113

draws tliem tlirough the meslies. The following is the
method of arranging the net : — When stretched on the
ground^ the net is fastened down with small pegs on the
side nearest to the fowler. It is held out in its narrow
width by two poles, four feet in length, having a groove
at the end, through which a rope passes from pullies
fixed parallel to the poles and some few feet from them,
and from which is also carried at right angles, the long
line held by the fowler. The two poles work in joints,
and, at the fitting moment, the fowler pulls the line,
then the net is suddenly cast over and falls towards
the pullies, throwing the birds into the water, and
covering them as before stated. Lapwings fly with
the wind, ruffs and reeves against it, and as they are
some times taken when on the wing, the net is arranged
accordingly, being held out by poles ten feet in height.

STREPSILAS INTERPRES, HHgcr.

TURNSTONE.

This cosmopolitan species visits us regularly, though
not very numerously, in spring and autumn, and
except during extremely severe weather some few may
be met with throughout the winter, with stragglers, at
times, in every month of the year. By the end of July
or beginning of August small family groups make their
appearance on Breydon and other parts of the coast,
where they consort with sanderlings, dunlins, and ringed
plover, and, considering the lateness of their stay with
us in spring, their return in so short a time, vdth young,
well able to accompany their parents, is a fact of special
interest in studying the habits of these migratory tribes.
At Blakeney, a favourable point of the coast for this
species, where, from its habit of turning over sea-weeds
Q

114 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

and other marine substances in search of food, it is known
by the appropriate name of " Tangle-picker," Mr. Dowell
has observed small flocks of seven or eight in the harbour
as early as the 20th and 29th of July ; and on the 30th of
July, 1852, he noticed several families in the "narrows"
apparently just arrived, ming-lmg with small parties of
sanderlings and dmilins. By the middle of September
he has known them arrive more thickly; and on one
occasion, on the 2nd of October, he saw a flock of about
fifteen near the "freshes." On the 12th of August,
1865, a young bird of the year was killed on Cromer
beach; on the 24th of October, 1867, Mr. J. E. Harting
shot a solitary specimen on Breydon ; and on the 13th of
November of the same year, two females were killed at
Blakeney, whilst my ovni and Mr. Dowell's notes supply
instances of their appearance both at Blakeney and on
the shores of the Wash in the months of January and
February.* At Yarmouth Mr. Frere tells me they are
rarely if ever seen in winter. Their spring migration
takes place about the second week in May ; and between
the 12th and 20th of that month, according to the season,
small flocks make their appearance on Breydon, as
well as on the beach at Yarmouth and other suitable
localities, and these, like the knots, godwits, and grey
plover, that arrive at the same time, are for the most
part in full nuptial plumage, resting only for a day
or so, and then passing on expeditiously to their more
northern breeding grounds. Mr. Hewitson discovered
several nests of this species in Norway about the middle
of June, which would seem from other authors to be its

* M. Julian Deby, in his " Notes on tlie Birds of Belgium "
(" Zoologist," 18-i6, p, 1251), in describing this species as a regular
spring and autumn migrant, remarks, " I do not believe that any
remain stationary with us during winter, as they are said to do on
the English coast."

TURNSTONE. 115

usual breeding tinie, and as there is no reason to suppose
that it ever nests on our own coast, the few that are
occasionally seen here throughout the summer months
are no doubt either immature specimens, or such, as
from some cause or other, are not destined to " increase
and multiply."

In June, 1846, Mr. DoweU shot a pair at Blalreney,
the only ones then remaining on that part of the
coast ; and on the 4th of June, 1851, a smgle specimen
was killed at Yarmouth. When staying at Hunstanton
in 1863, I first noticed this species on the 25th of May,
but never more than three or four together, and unlike
the sanderlings, which were tame and plentiful enough,
the turnstones were so shy that I failed to procure
any, though much wanting specimens in summer
plumage. By the end of May these small parties had
shifted their quarters though the sanderlings still re-
mained ; but on the 10th and again on the 13th of
June, I observed a single turnstone feeding by itself at
low water, but so wary that it was only through a good
glass that I could watch its actions. The flat sandy
beach on this portion of the coast, must be particularly
attractive to this species, strewn as it is with shells
and sea-weeds, and abounding in the small crustaceans,
marine-insects, and worms that constitute the main por-
tion of their food. Their actions when feeding have been
so minutely and accurately described by Audubon, as
quoted by Macgillivray, and by Mr. Gould in his recent
work on the "■ Birds of Great Britain," that it is needless
to describe them here at any length, but the stone-turning
habit from whence its name is derived, is no mere fiction
of authors, but a fact to be realised at any time by an
examination of the ground where these birds have been
feeding.

Never having handled a living or freshly killed speci-
men, I have had no opportunity of examining " the small
Q 2

116 BIEDS OF NORFOLK.

fleshy sheath or fold of skin " at the base of the upper
mandible, described by Mr, Gould, which shrivels up
and is hardly perceptible after death ; but may not this
singular appendage, the object of which is uncertain, be
intended as a shield to protect the feathers of the fore-
head against the sharp edges of the shells and other
objects, turned over by the beaks of these birds in their
search for food? The turnstone is rarely met with far
inland,* even at the period of its migratory movements,
but Mr. Lubbock states that it has been observed on a
small island on Hickling broad ; and, as I am informed
by Mr. Newcome, of Feltwell, on the 4th of May, 1853,
he procured one specimen, which appeared with other
strange visitants in liis neighbourhood, when, after the
great flood in November, 1852, several thousand acres of
the "Fen" district were inundated for more than six
months.

CALIDRIS ARENARIA (Liunfeus.)
SANDEELING.

That a species so abundant and so widely distributed
as the Sanderling should only very recently have been
traced to its breeding haunts,t and that authentic
specimens of its eggs should still remain desiderata in
nearly all cabinets, is no less strange than true. At

* Mr. Harting, in his " Birds of Middlesex," states that on one
occasion in August, he met with a single bird of this species, so far
inland as the Kingsbury reservoir.

t Mr. Alfred Newton informs me that the sanderling has been
found breeding by one, at least, of the explorers employed by the
Smithsonian Institution, although the particulars have not yet
reached him.

SANDERLING. 117

Yarmouth, Mr. Frere tells me tliey arrive like tlie
turustones by the end of August or beginning of
September, but are then less numerous than in spring ;
and are not seen in that neighbourhood during the
winter months, although, on the shores of the Wash,
(possessing more attractions for this species), I have
often known specimens killed, in their delicate grey-
plumage, in December and January. On that portion
of the coast, in September, 1863, more particularly
in the vicinity of Hunstanton, Mr. Dowell found them
frequenting the beach, in flocks of from one or two
hmidred to five hmidred together, thousands of them, in
fact, being there congregated like dunlins, on Breydon,
during hard weather; and to make quite sure of the
species, he killed several specimens at different times.
Whether this was, or was not, an exceptional visita-
tion as to numbers,"^ I am not prepared to say, but
I have never heard of any similar instance in this
county ; and at Blakeney Mr. Dowell has seen them
only in small companies of from five to twenty or
thirty, or scattered singly along shore. In this locality
he has also remarked that " they do not come far
up the harbour, nor are they seen on the mud-
flats, or joined with the miscellaneous assemblage of
waders one so often sees mixed together in winter."
By the 20th of July, also, in 1851, he observed several
of these birds in Blakeney harbour, which had even
then assumed their winter dress. Stragglers are but
rarely met with inland, but Mr. F. Norgate tells
me he once knew a sanderling killed on some ice at
Sparham, near Norwich, probably driven out of its
course by heavy gales at the time. Single birds are

* It is stated by Meyer, in his " British Birds," that in Holland
the flocks of sanderlings not unfrequcntly amount to " many
hundred individuals."

118

BIRDS OF NOUFOLK.

not imfreqnently seen consorting with dunlins, but when
in small or large flocks they invariably feed by them-
selves.

With the sanderling, as with the knots and god-
wits, it is only by comparing a large number of birds
killed at different dates, and of which the sex in each
instance has been accurately ascertained by dissection,
that one can arrive at any satisfactory conclusion
as to the change of plumage from the winter to the
summer dress, or the differences observable between
males and females. It was with this view that I collected
specimens at Hunstanton in 1863, whenever opportunity
ofiered, between the 19th of May and the 8th of June,
and an examination of this very beautiful series of skins,
fourteen in number, presents many points of interest.
From the late period of my visit, of course even
the earliest birds procured had nearly completed their
change of plumage, but it is remarkable that, in both
sexes, one or two examples killed in the middle of May
were as perfect and as rich in colour as any I obtained in
June, a circumstance which I have since observed, at
the same season, in the bar-tailed godwits (Limosa rufa),
and from which I infer that very old birds or those
of extremely vigorous constitutions acquire their full
summer dress sooner than others. This is particularly
noticeable in a male and female both shot on the 26th
of May, the male being by far the darkest bird in the
collection, and the female showing quite as much red
on the fore part of the throat and neck as in any of the
males killed in June. Two other females shot on the
same day, young birds most probably of the previous
year, are in the j^rettiest state of change possible, the
upper portions of their plumage mottled with red, white,
and black, with here and there a feather still pure grey,
and their throats sprinkled with dark spots on a white
ground, with scarcely a tinge of red yet visible. Again,

SANDERLING. 119

as if purposely to puzzle an ornithologist and confound
all his theories^ a female shot on the 2nd of June has
scarcely any red margins to the feathers on the upper
surface of the body, and the chin, throat, and neck
are almost as little tinged with red as in those last
described. The females as a rule are certainly less rich
in colour than the males, there being more grey mixed
with the red and black on the upper parts, even
late in the season, and their throats, however ruddy,
show a white ground; whilst in fine adult males the
dark spots on the throat may be almost said to rest on
a red ground, so evenly is that colour distributed ; still I
cannot agree with General Sabine when he says, in the
appendix to Sir Edward Parry's first Arctic Voyage,
that the chin, throat, and fore part of the neck in the
female sanderling may be described " as white, with a
very slight sprinkling of dark spots, and scarcely any
appearance of red," as I have dissected one or two
females with so much red on those parts that I was
quite unable otherwise to determine the sex. The
plumage of six specimens killed on the 8tli of June
(four males and two females), and one female shot on the
2nd, may be thus described in general terms : — In tliree
of the males, the feathers of the upper portions of the
plumage are pure red and black, in the fourth male red
and black mixed with grey as in females."^ Their throats
all more or less ruddy, but none of them equal in depth
of colouring to the old male shot on the 26tli of May.

* I was much, struck on one or two occasions with the
wonderful similarity in colouring between the plumage of these
birds and the shingle of the beach, which, consisting of minute
fragments of flint and pebbles, mixed with th.e debris of shells, was
as prettily varied with red, white, and black as the backs of the
sanderlings ; and it was by no means easy to detect a specimen,
even when intentionally placed amongst the smaller stones.

120 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Of tlie two females killed on the 8tli, tlie upper parts
show more black than red, varied with grey margins to
many of the feathers. In one the throat is white,
covered with dusky spots, with hardly a trace of red
appearing; whilst in the other the red is a little more
distributed. The female of June 2nd has the upper
parts as in the other two, except that the tail coverts
are still light grey, but the neck and throat are as red
as in any females I have seen, thus showing how
strangely variable these birds are in the assumption of
their breeding plumage. The females are slightly larger
than the males, but even this is subject to exceptions,
and cannot, therefore, be relied upon altogether as a
sexual distinction ; and the absence of the hind toe
renders it impossible to confound this species with the
dunlin or other small waders, in any stage of plumage.

Their stomachs I found extremely stout and muscular,
and usually filled with the remains of small shrimps and
sandhoppers, small white worms, little fragments of
seaweed and minute beetles, mixed with a considerable
.amount of coarse sand. They were all in high condition,
and, being covered with perfect layers of fat, required
much care in skinning during the hot weather. I
should here mention, also, that even in the females
killed on the 8th of June, the ovaries contained no eggs
larger than a No. 4 shot, with a considerable cluster of
smaller ones.

As its name implies, the sanderling is essentially a
bird of the sea-shore, and I know no locality better
suited to its habits and necessities than that where I
first met with it, on our coast, between Holme and
Hunstanton. On these flat shores an immense tract
of sand is laid bare at low water, abounding in little
pools and streamlets, and teeming with those minute
forms of Mollusca, Crustacea, &c., which form the chief
food of the smaller waders. Here, with the mussel-scalps

SANDEELING. 121

on the one hand, and the submerged forest on the
other, where huge trunks of trees he buried in the
dark peaty soil, or a stratum of soft blue clay crops out
amidst the sand, a daily renewed banquet is afforded
to every species of shore-bird. On these moist level
sands, the sanderlings are distinguishable by the white-
ness of their breasts, at a great distance, looking at first
sight, when feeding towards one, like little lumps of
white chalk dotted over the surface, which, however, on
a nearer approach become strangely animated, and the
light and dark shades of the upper and under plumage
alternately presented to the eye, have a beautiful effect
on a bright sunny day. Although, as compared with
dunlins and turnstones, I always found these birds
extremely tame ; yet from the very nature of the
ground, it was almost impossible to obtain a shot at
them on the open sands, as vdthout shovdng any par-
ticular alarm, they would always manage, by running
on and feeding in advance, to keep just out of range ;
but occasionally I surprised a solitary bird by the edge
of the mussel-scalps, or when too busily engaged with
the last bit of seaweed thrown up by the waves. At
high water, however, in small flocks of from five or six
to about double that number, they were much more
accessible, and the raised banks of shingle, or the sand-
hills beyond, afforded means of approach. Their actions
when feeding are exceedingly pretty, occasionally raising
their wings over the back like golden plover, without
attempting to fly, running and stopping with quick
nervous steps, and apparently travelling with as much
ease over the large shingle as over the smooth sands.
When disturbed by the water's edge, they invariably
flew out to sea, uttering their shrill but pleasing cry on
the wing, and circling round would alight again on the
beach some hundred yards further on. At such times,
however, like the ringed plover, their most favourite

E

122 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

place of resort was the margin of that tidal basiii at
Holme, to wliicli I have before alluded, which, though
at flood tide presenting a wide sheet of water, has a
swampy marsh at one end, covered with coarse grasses,
glasswort (Salicornia herhaceaj, locally called samphire,
and other marine vegetation. Here, when scattered
amongst the rank herbage, and not seen at times till
they rose, I obtained most of my specimens, and by a
lucky right and left on the 8th of June, the last day of
my visit, secured the four males and two females, whose
diversity of colouring I have already described.

Like many others of its class, should a sanderling
happen to fall, " winged," into the water, It swims lightly
and fearlessly, and, recovering itself in an instant, makes
at once for the shore. In the sea, also, it rides buoyantly
on the httle biUows, and with the most perfect coolness
allows itself to be washed ashore, making off at an
almost incredible pace as soon as it gains a footing. It
is further noticeable, in all such cases, that although the
bird may have fallen from some height into the water
the wounded wing, only, is saturated with wet ; yet that
the rest of the plumage should be imj)ervious to the
water must surely, in these birds, be owing simply to
muscular contraction.

KffiMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS, Linn^us.

OYSTEE-CATCHEE.

The Oyster-catcher or Sea-pie as it is locally termed,
once abundant enough in the breeding season on the
northern shores of this county, can now only be claimed
as a resident through some few scattered pairs still linger-
ing in one or two of the wildest and most retired of
their former haunts. Mr. Dowell remarks that in 1848

OYSTEK-CATCHER. 123

and 1849, "thej were common at Blakeney all the year
round" ; and, until within the last seven or eight years,
their eggs used to be sent regularly every season to one of
our Norwich bird-stuffers from the same neighbourhood,
with those of the common and lesser tern. In 1860, on
more than one occasion, in June, I saw two or three
pairs at Salthouse, not frequenting the beach but passing
along the coast, apparently making for some point still
further westward ; and in that direction, about Warham
and Morston, a few pairs still breed, as far as I can
ascertain, in such quiet spots as are yet suited to their
habits. At Hunstanton, on the 16th of May, 1863, 1
counted over one hundred in a flock, at low water, busily
feeding at the edge of the great mussel-scalp. From the
flatness of the shore it was impossible to approach them
within shot, wary as they always are when in large
bodies, and the tide had already fallen so low that I
question if even a Breydon punt could have been worked
up within range for a big gun. Thus, fortunately for
them, and I think equally so for myself, I was obliged to
be content with watching them through my glass, and
they certainly presented one of the most animated
groups of feathered life I ever witnessed, from their
varied attitudes, sharply contrasting colours, and loud
ringing cries. They all disappeared when the tide rose,
and from that time only a few were seen at different
times till the 4th of June, when I again saw a flock of
over sixty, but, like the former number, they were no
doubt migrants, resting for a while on their passage
northward, and were all gone on the following day. After
that date I never observed more than one or two at any
time, between Hunstanton and Holme, and from the
cockle-gatherers, who are well acquainted with the
habits of our shore birds, I learnt that the sea-pie had
ceased to breed on the Holme shingles, but frequented
the quiet coast-line between Thornham and Brancaster ;
B 2

124 BIEDS or NORFOLK.

where Mr. F. Norgate, wlio has made more recent
enquiries on the spot, beheves they are still resident.

Bj the end of August or beginning of September,
thej again make their appearance in the above-named
locahties in large flocks, which are increased considerably
during the winter months. Some twenty years ago, at
that season, Mr. Dowell found them at Blakeney in
flocks of five hundred and upwards, but then remarkably
shy ; and the Eev. C. A. Johns, in his " British Birds
in their haunts," in stating that oyster-catchers may be
" reckoned by thousands" on the Norfolk coast in hard
winters, particularly mentions the " eastern point " of
Brancaster marsh, a place of perfect security from its
openness on all sides, as one of their most favourite
roosting places. "Towards this point (he writes) I
have seen line after line winging their way, all about
the same hour, just after sunset, all following the line
of the coast, but taking care to keep well out at sea, and
all advancing with perfect regularity, every individual
in a company being at the same height above the
water." At such times they are frequently taken in nets
on the shores of the Wash, near Lynn, with many other
birds, by a process which I shall have occasion to
explain more at length in my account of the dunlin.

Although in 1825 described by the Messrs. Paget as
" not uncommon on the beach" at Yarmouth, the oyster-
catcher can be reckoned only as a rarity on the eastern
side of the county where the beach presents far less
attractions for this species than the flat shores of the
Wash, abounding in shell-fish, as various as abundant.

I quite agree with my friend Mr. Harting (" Birds
of Middlesex") that the term oyster-catcher is a mis-
nomer for this species, whose chief food appears to
consist of mussels, whelks, limpets — struck off from the
rocks with that wonderful blunt-pointed flat-sided beak,
hammer and chisel in one — cockles, and other small

CRANE. 125

molluscs and crustaceans. With such a diet one would
scarcely expect to find them any great delicacy for the
table, but Mr. Dowell, who has eaten them, describes the
flesh as " fairly good" ; and in by-gone days, when
sea-gulls formed part of the bill of fare, oyster-catchers
would seem, also, to have been much esteemed. In the
'' Northumberland Household Book " we find the follow-
ing order, "Item See-Pyes for my Lorde at Princypall
Feestes and non other tyme ;" but abundant as they
must have been in former times on the Hunstanton
beach, this species occurs but once in the " L'Estrange
Accounts," viz., "The xxxviijth weke," 1525, "It. pd
to Nicholas Grey for a sepye, a redshancke, and a
stynte, ij<i-"

CRUS CINEREA, Bechst.

CRANE.

That the Crane formerly bred in England, the terms
of an Act of Parliament, passed in 1533, and already
quoted in the account of the bustard (p. 11) leaves no
room for doubt, as the fine of twenty-pence was thereby
imposed upon every person who should " withdraw,
purloin, take, destroy, or convey," any egg of this
species. But whether the crane ever bred in Norfolk
must remain an open question. Turner, a few years
later, says ("Avium Historia, Colonise:" 1548), that
" earum jpij^iones ipse scepissime vidi j^' and as Turner,
though a Northumbrian by birth, was educated and lived
for nearly fifteen years at Cambridge,* it seems not
unlikely that his personal acquaintance with the "pipers"

* Cooper's "Atlienaa Cantabrigienses," vol. i., pp. 256-258.

126 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

or young cranes was made in the fens of that county,
with which we know the fens of Norfolk had so much
in common that one cannot imagine a species Hke this
to have constantly bred in the one without the other ;
and often as I have read that wonderful description by
the late John Wolley of the breeding of the crane in
Lapland ("Ibis," 1859, p. 191), in which he describes
so graphically his nocturnal watch, the question has
occurred again and again to my mind. His minute des-
cription of the general character of that Lapland marsh,
the nature of the soil, and the surrounding trees and
herbage, all so vividly remind me of the wilder portions
of our ^' broad" scenery, as they still exist, that in
former times with a far wider area, wholly imaffected
by drainage, one can conceive no closer resemblance
(excepting only in climate), to that "Isa Uoma" of
the far North.

To return, however, from mere speculation to the
few scattered facts that remain to us respecting the
history of this species in Norfolk, we find five entries in
the "Household Book" of the L'Estranges', of Hun-
stanton, of cranes supplied to their larder between the
years 1519 and 1533,'^ the last being one of the few birds
recorded in this list as " killed with the gun." Of these

* 1519. "The vth weke" [after the 25th of September; about
October 30th.] "Itm pd for a crane and vi plovs xs^-, and ij
conyes iiij^- — ij^- —

" The ixth weke" [about November 27th.] " Itm a goos, a
pygge, a crane, iiij conyes, and a loyn of veile of gyste (articles
received in lieu of rent.)"

1526. "The xxxixth weke" [after the 25th of March, about
December 23rd]. "Itm iiij malards and a crane kylledwt the cros-
bowe."

1533. " The sxvjth weke" [after the xxixth day of March, about
September 26th]. " Thursdaye, Itm a crane, vjd- "

1533. "The xxxviij weke" [after 29th of March, about December
19th.] " Tewysdaye, Itm a cranne kyllyd wt the gun."

CRANE. 127

as given in tlie subjoined note (reckoning the number of
weeks, from the last quarter-day, on which each separate
account commences), two appear to have been killed in
autumn, one in spring, and one in winter ; the three
first occurring about the usual migratory periods. Sir
Thomas Browne {circa 1667), evidently regarded this
species as a migrant only, in his time, as, in his
"Account of Birds found in Norfolk," he says "Cranes
are often seen here in hard winters,* especially about
the champian and fieldy part," but adds, '' it seems they
have been more plentiful ; for, in a bill of fare, when the
Mayor entertained the Duke of Norfolk, I met with
cranes in a dish."t But for this very decided statement
of so accurate an observer, the following extract from
the diary of the " accomplished " Evelyn, who first
made the acquaintance of Sir Thomas at Norwich, in
October, 1671, might lead one to infer that the Knight's

* Willugliby (1676), writing of the crane in his " Ornithology,"
remarks, "They come often to us in England; and in the fen countries
in Lincolnshu-e and Cambridgeshire there are great flocks of them,
but whether or no they breed in England (as Aldrovandus writes
he was told by a certain Englishman [most probably Turner], who
said he had often seen their young ones), I cannot certainly deter-
mine, either of my own knowledge or from the relation of any
credible person."

t In the Northumberland " Household Book" (1512), we find
the following entry : — " Item it is thought that cranys muste be
hadde at Crystynmas and other principall Feestes for my Lordes
owne Mees, so they be boght at xvjd- a pece." In the Lord E"orth
" Accounts" (1577) one crane is charged as much as " xiijs- iiijd-."
with herons at about 3s. each. But that this great bird was classed
amongst the chief delicacies, in former times, is shown by the
following stanza from Barclay's " Egloges," a.b. 1570 : —

"The crane, the fesant, the pecocke, and curlewe,
The partriche, plover, bittern, and heronsewe,
Seasoned so well in licour redolent.
That the hall is full of pleasent smell and scent."

128 BIRDS OF nohfolk:.

cabinet contained eggs of the crane, stork, and other
rarities all obtained in this county. After describing
the house and garden as " sl paradise and cabinet of
rarities," consisting of " medails, books, plants, and
natural things," Evelyn further adds, "amongst other
curiosities Sir Thomas had a collection of ye eggs of
all the foule and birds he could procure, that country
(especially the promontary of Norfolck) being frequented,
as he said, by severall kinds, which seldome or never go
farther into the land, as cranes, storkes, eagles, and a
variety of water foule."

At the present day the crane can be reckoned only
as a rare and accidental visitant to this county, appear-
ing singly, instead of in flocks, and at uncertain inter-
vals ; for the most part either in spring or autumn, on
its migratory course, or by chance, as in olden times,
during hard vdnters. Of such specimens as are still
preserved in local collections, or of which any records
exist, as far as I am aware, the earliest in point of date
is a very light coloured bird in the possession of Mr.
Newcome of Feltwell, in which neighbourhood it was
killed in August, 1836. This bird, as Mr. Alfred
Newton was informed some few years since by a man
who had seen it at large on several occasions, frequented
the " fen " in the harvest time, and used to keep during
the day in the standing barley, on which it fed, but in
the morning and evening it went down to the water.
It was at that time mistaken for a stork, and a reward
having been offered, it was shot by a shoemaker named
Hudson, who laid wait for it as it walked out of the
barley. The sex does not seem to have been noticed at
the time, but it was stuffed by Reynolds, of Thetford,
for the late Mrs. Flower, of Feltwell, at whose death it
passed into the hands of its present owner.

A female (ascertained by dissection), in Mr. Gurney's
collection, was shot by a labourer at Kirtley, near

CRANE. 129

Lowestoft, SufPollr, in April, 1845, when, according to
Messrs. Gurney and Fisher, it was observed "walking
slowly in a barley field, apparently intent on searching
for food, and was killed without difl&culty. The wind
had for some time previously been easterly." This
specimen was for some years in the possession of Mr.
Abraham Scales, of Pakefield, who afterwards presented
it to Mr. Gurney.

Next m point of date is, I believe, an immature
specimen in the collection of the Eev. H. T. Frere, of
Burston, who has kindly supplied me with the following
particulars : — It was killed in February, 1850, at
Martham, near Yarmouth, by a young farmer, who, at
first, taking it for a heron, attempted to stuff it, and
thus, in a very bad state, it was brought shortly after-
wards to the late John Sayer, of Norwich, bird-stufier,
of whom it was purchased by Mr. Frere. There was no
question at the time as to the bird having been recently
killed, and the plumage is that of the first year, with a
few light coloured feathers showing through the dark
ground.

Since that date, I am not aware that any example of
this bird has been procured in Norfolk, but Mr. H. M.
Upcher mforms me that some few years back, he believes
in the spring of 1865, he was driving with his father,
when, in a meadow close to the road at Warham, they
observed a crane, so tame that they at first supposed
it had escaped from confinement. It rose when they
stopped to watch it, and alighted again near a run of
water in the same meadow, but on their return soon
after it had disappeared. Subsequently he heard of one
having been seen in the Sandringham marshes, most
probably the same bird, which seems happily to have
escaped destruction. It is particularly noticeable that,
vdth the exception of the Feltwell bird, all three speci-
mens have been observed in the close vicinity of the

8

130 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

coast, and from their large size were, no doubt, remarked
almost as soon as they had effected a landing on our
shores.

AEDEA CINEREA, Linnaeus.
COMMON HEEON.

Whether certain members of the feathered race are
possessed of so nice a sense of honour as to prefer being
petted and preserved for a time, only to suffer death at
the hands of legitimate sportsmen ; or woTild rather
forego such distinguished patronage and take their
chance of existence with less noble forms, is just one
of those points which, for want of any means of
lingual communication, must for ever remain an open
question. So far as concerns the Heron, once the
noblest '^quarry" of the Falconer, and the greatest
delicacy at all " principall feestes," I cannot but think,
though no longer protected by the pains and penalties
of the law,* that it is a gainer rather than not by the
great changes effected in the sports and pastimes of the
age. The "hawk and the harnsey"t have alike fallen

* According to Tolkard " The statute 19 Hen. VII., cap. 11,
prohibited the taking of herons in this country, except by hawking
or with the long-bow, upon pain of forfeiture of 6s. 8d. for every
bird taken contrary to that statute. It also restrained the taking
of young herons out of theii* nests, on land belonging to other
persons (except with the license of the owner of such land) under a
penalty of 10s. for every bird so taken." All the statutes, how-
ever, affecting these birds, their young, and eggs are repealed
under the Game Act of George IV.

f Harnsey, heronsewe, hornseu, and hernshaw, are amongst
the various terms formerly applied to this species. In a note to
Dr. Cunningham's paper on "the solan goose or gannet" ("Ibis,"
1866, p. 13), the editor remarks, " ' hanser' or ' hernser,' (with the
still further corruption, as in the old proverb of ' handsaw ') is

COMMON HERON. 131

from their liigh estate, but whilst the former, unhappily,
meets no quarter at the hands of the gamekeeper, and
ranks with the crow in the list of feathered vermin, the
heron still retains a something of its former prestige,
which, in the breeding season, at least, ensures it protec-
tion, a heronry, at the present day, being still regarded
by most persons as a coveted possession.

Of this species Sir Thomas Browne* says, "the great
number of rivers, rivulets, and plashes of water makes
herns and herneries to abomid in these parts; young
herns being esteemed a festival dish, and much desired
by some palates ;" but at that time, and indeed until
within the last forty or fifty years, herons did not build
exclusively in lofty trees, seeking the vicinity of man's
dwellings, and gathering together in colonies like the
rooks, but were scattered, in pairs, over the Fens and
Broads, where their nests were placed sometimes on a
lofty alder in a carr, sometimes on the dwarf sallow
and alder bushes in the marsh, or were hidden like those
of the bittern amongst the reeds and sedges. In many
such localities the nature of the soil must in itself have
afibrded sufficient protection — the swamp presenting an
impenetrable barrier against all human depredators;

now a-days in many places the common name for Ardea cinerea,
and seems as if it could be hardly anything else than the Sanskrit
'hansa.' If so ' heronshaw,' abbreviated to 'heron' and 'hern,'
is naturally from the same root." Again in Taylor's MS. appendix
to Forby the derivation of heronsewe is given as from " the O. E.
sewe a dish (whence sewer, one who serves up the dinner), hence
heronsewe may be a heron fit for eating, young and tender."
" I wot not tellen of his strange sewes,
Ne hir swans, ne hir heronsewes."— Chaucek.
* Writing of the spoonbill breeding in Norfolk, Sir Thomas
Browne states " that they formerly built in the Hernery at Claxton
and Eeedham, now at Trimley, in Sufiblk;" but, as far I can
ascertain, no heronry now exists in any of those localities, and, with
the exception of the latter, they have probably been abandoned for
many years.
s 2

132 BIEDS OF NORFOLK.

but, of late years, the reclamation effected by artificial
drainage would account, independently of our numerous
gunners, for the abandonment by the herons of their
older haunts. Mr. Lubbock refers to these marsh-
breeders, and I have conversed with many residents in
the " Broad " district, who remember their nesting at
Eanworth, Horsey, Irstead, and other places ; and even
the Didlington heronry is said to have been established,
some sixty years ago, by a considerable colony,^ which
formerly had their nests on low sallow-bushes, or
amongst the sedges on the borders of the Feltwell and
Hock wold fens.

Through the kindness of several correspondents, and
especially of Mr. Thomas Southwell, I have lately
ascertained the existence of several small heronries in
different parts of the county, which were unknown to
me when writmg the introduction to my first volume
(p. Ixiii.) Most of these are, however, offshoots from
the older and better known colonies, and, from the
changeable habits of this species, may in a few years
be again abandoned.

First in importance, of course, both from its extent
and association with the history of falconry in this
county, is the Didlington heronry before mentioned.
Near this colony, at High Ash, the late Lord Berners
(when Colonel Wilson) kept heron-hawks for many
years, and special reference is made to this fact by the
authors of "Falconry in the British Isles." These
hawks, as stated in my notice of the peregrine, were
subsequently supported by subscription, but were finally
given up in 1836 ; and though Mr. Newcome, of

* Mr. Alfred Newton was tlius informed in 1863, by William
Spencer, of Feltwell, who had been thoroughly well acquainted
from his boyhood with the birds of the " Fen." He was unable to
say when the herons ceased to breed there, but " it was before
his time," his age being then fifty-three.

COMMON HERON. 133

Feltwell, has since maintained a private establisTiment,
and with his two remarkable falcons " De Ruyter" and
" Sultan " had many grand flights in the Hockwold
country, the Didlington herons, still strictly preserved^
have suffered little persecution of late from this cause.
CrowSj rooks, and jackdaws, as egg stealers and even
devourers at times of the young "squabs," may certainly
be reckoned amongst their natui^al enemies ; but of late
years the extensive drainage of the " Fen " district, thus
limiting their means of procuring food has had far more
effect on the numbers of the Didlington herons than
could possibly have been effected by the Corvidce gen-
erally, which, in like manner, are less numerous than in
former times. A very clever sketch by Mr. Carter,
taken from the summit of a Scotch fir, overlooking a
portion of this extensive heronry, appeared in a recent
number of the " Illustrated News,""^ and the bird's-eye
view thus obtained by the artist of that busy scene
is described as most interesting. " On emerging ft-om
the deep shade, through the thick matted foliage of the
Scotch fir tops, the old herons, alarmed by his mtrusion,
sailed to and fro anxiously overhead, while the young
birds, which had been making a hissing and chattering
noise, not unlike that of magpies, suddenly collapsed
into silence, and peered cautiously from their nests."
Deserted nests were tenanted by other lodgers, such as
wood-pigeons, jackdaws, sparrows, and starlings ; in
one nest was a family of brown owls ; and spotted
and green woodpeckers, a wryneck, and a squirrel were
also observed amongst the topmost branches. Some ten
years ago, as I am informed by Mr. Tyssen Amhurst,
the present owner of the estate, owing to the old brush-
wood in the heronry (the trees of which were very tall
ash) being cut down, the herons shifted their nests,

* See volume lii., p. 660, with description at p. 666.

134 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

and began to breed about half a mile further off in
this large Scotch fir-wood, where they are far more
picturesque, and a great portion of the old heronry
having been since demolished the park has thereby
been greatly improved. At the present time, this still
thriving colony boasts of some sixty or sixty-five nests.

The following particulars respecting the past history
of the Earlham heronry, near Norwich, — which, with
its branch establishments at Costessey and Taverham,
ranks next in importance, have been kindly supplied me
by Mr. J. H. Gurney, " About the year 1810, an oak
wood, near Acle,"^ long tenanted by a colony of herons,
was cut down, and the birds thus deprived of their old
haunt, migrated to a rookery, at Keswick, near Norwich ;
but here, owing either to the persecution of the rooks
or to the underwood being burnt on one occasion, they
did not remain later than about the year, 1830, some of
them having probably left before that date. They now
attempted to establish themselves at Taverham, but
were driven away by the gamekeepers; and, though a
few remained about Taverham and Costessey, the main
body removed to a Scotch fir-grove (since cut dov^n), at
Newfound, from which, after one season, they crossed
the river to the Scotch fir-grove at Earlliam." Here
they again came into collision with the rooks, but as the
young plantation by the pond grew up they removed
thither from the Scotch fir-grove, and Earlham, until
the memorable gale wliich occurred on the 28th of
February, 1860, remained their chief stronghold; their
numbers amounting, I am told, in some seasons to
between eighty and a hundred pairs. The effects of this
gale, happening at so critical a period when the old

* Hunt, in his "British Ornithology," mentions this Acle
heronry and the fights which occurred for possession between the
rooks and herons.

COMMON HEEON. 135

birds had but just returned, and were busily employed
in repairing and building their nests, proved very disas-
trous, many, even that season, forsaking this haunt for
either Costessey or Taverham. On the 24th of April of
the same year, I visited the heronry, and found the
wind had made sad havoc with the fine Scotch firs, which
laid strewn in all directions, several with nests still
in their branches, whilst the remains of many others
crackled under foot at every step. There were more
nests standing, however, than I at all expected to
find ; and as the anxious parents soared high over head,
waiting my departure, I was glad to see a goodly array
of open bills and grizzly necks appearing in many cases
above the platform of twigs. Yet from that time,
partly owing, perhaps, to the loss of many favourite
trees, and still more, I suspect, to the fact that men
were employed throughout that breeding season in
clearing out the fallen timber from the heronry, their
numbers, year by year, gradually decreased, till, in
1866, not more than two or three pairs returned to
breed at Earlham; and this, from no interference on
the part of the rooks, which, from other causes, had
also diminished in number.

At Costessey, as I am informed by the Rev. J. W.
Evans, though at first disturbed by the keepers, they
are now strictly preserved by the noble owner of the
estate ; and in 1866 about sixty nests were built in
some sj)ruce and birch trees at some little distance from
the hall. Since that spring, however, many pairs have
again returned to Earlham ; and this year (1868) Mr.
John Gurney informs me some sixteen or seventeen
nests in their old quarters afford every hope that the
Earlham heronry will be once more re-established. A
further offshoot, also, from this heronry has been long
established at Kimberley, where Mr. Lambert, the head
gamekeeper, assures me he has known herons build on

136 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

ash, elm, and other trees for the last twenty years.
During the last spring (1868) there were only two nests.

Another, and j)robably one of our oldest heronries,
is that noticed by Mr. Southwell in " The Naturalist"
for April, 1853 (p. 87), as situated in Wolferton wood,*
about six miles from Lynn, and where he was at that
time informed " the keepers were destroying the herons
as their noise disturbed the game.'^ Most happily such an
atrocity was never perpetrated, and as a fitting append-
age to the sporting estate of his Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales, there is Httle doubt that right royal
protection will be extended to this thriving colony,
which could boast some twenty nests in the spring of
1868.

To the Rev. T. Fulcher, of Old Buckenham, I am
indebted for the laiowledge of an incipient heronry in
that parish, which commenced with one or two nests in
1864, in a small plantation of spruce firs, near Old
Buckenham lodge, belonging to Mr. R. Reeve, who is
very anxious to preserve them. Since that time the
birds have returned each spring, but the nests have in
no year exceeded five. In 1868 the young in four nests
were all hatched off, but unfortunately in the preceding
winter several of the old birds were shot by individuals
more careful of their fish than of the heronry. The above,
with a nest or two said to have been discovered in 1867,
at Burnham Overy and East Walton, by Mr. Bur-
lingham, of Lynn, are the only localities, as far as I can
ascertain, in which the heron still breeds in Norfolk:

* In tlie L'Estrange " Household Accounts," occurs the follow-
ing entry with reference to this very wood : — " Itm paid at Lynne
when ye went on hawkying to Wolferton wood for fyer and
dryncke." It is quite possible, therefore, that even at that time
the Wolferton heronry afforded the noblest sport of the day to the
squire of Hunstanton.

COMMON HERON. 137

but an old established colony at Herringfleet, near
Lowestoft, still exists on the borders of the adjoining
county.'^ Mr. Frere, of Yarmouth, has moreover kindly
ascertained the sites of three heronries which have
been deserted within the last thirty or forty years. The
first of these on the estate of Mr. Browne, of Thrigby,
was visited by Mr. J. H. Gurney about the year 1839,
when some half-dozen pairs still nested there, but these
were probably driven away by the rooks. There was
also a small heronry at Norton Hall, near Loddon,
some twenty-five years since of which no trace remains ;
and a rather considerable one at Clippesby, which was
destroyed in 1834; since which time all the efforts of
the present owner of the estate have failed to induce
the birds to build there again. Another small colony
at Claxton, near Reedham, latterly consisting of but
two or three pairs, finally deserted that station about
two years since.

The heron is one of our earliest breeders, and
remarkable for the punctuality with which it revisits
for that purpose its accustomed haunts. Mr. Tyssen-
Amhurst in a communication to Mr. Gould's ^^ Birds of
Great Britain," states that "the Didlington heronry
is regularly peopled within a day or two of the middle
of February. There is then a great clattering of bills
and flapping of wings, with other indisputable evidence
of their having paired, and that the breeding season is
about to commence. Early in March tlu-ee or four eggs
are laid, and by the middle of April the task of incuba-
tion has terminated, and the young are hatched."
Usually between the 14th and 28th of April I have seen
young herons in the down, about two or three days old,
resembling exactly the four nestlings figured by Mr.

* In SuflFolk, also, not so far from our limits as to be quite out
of reach, I am told by Mr. Alfred ISTewton of small heronries at
Cavenham and Chippenham.
T

138 BIEDS OF NOKFOLK.

Gould, whicli were sent him alive, from Didlington, by
Mr. Amhurst ; but I also saw some young ones in 1859 as
early as the 26th of March, which shows, that like rooks
and other birds they are in this respect influenced by
mild or backward seasons. By the first week in March
Mr. Newcome tells me he used always to have a flight
at '' passage" herons,"^ and for many years I have noted
the appearance of these birds over the city not later than
the middle of March, passing to and from the surround-
ing marshes to the heronry at Earlham. Mr. Lubbock,
as a proof of the extended flights occasionally made
by these birds in search of food, states that formerly,
at Keswick "the flounder, called provincially 'butt,'
was often found under the trees in the breeding season,"
and adds "these butts must have been brought from
Burgh flats at the back of Yarmouth ;" this, however,
though by no means improbable, cannot be accepted as
a fact, inasmuch as Mr. Gurney has known small
flounders to be taken as high up the Norwich river
as the New Mills. It is also remarkable, as noticed
by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher, " that when the herons
drop any of the food, which they bring to their
young amongst the trees of the heronry, they make
no attempt to recover it, but, probably from a con-
sciousness of their inability to rise from the ground in a
confined space, allow it to remain where it falls." Thus
the Earlham keeper tells me he has frequently picked
up large eels and other fish in a perfectly fresh state,

* " Passage herons" in falconry are those at which hawks are
flown as they pass overhead, either to or from the heronry, generally
at a great height. In the old days of the sport, the more usual
mode was to spring the heron from the water-side and let loose
the hawk at it as it rose, The quarry then speedily took to the
water again, and the whole " flight" as may be easily imagined was
of a character qiiite different from that of the aerial combat of
modern times.

COMMO.T^r HEEON. 139

but when the nests are numerous, the stench from this
waste food is extremely offensive. Two broods are
usually reared in the same year, and, according to the
authors above quoted, "a notion is prevalent amongst
the country people that the second set of eggs is incu-
bated by the young of the first brood.""^ Young herons,
as Mr. Gurney informs me, are excellent eating just
before they leave the nest, but afterwards become both
poor and fishy.

That the heron attams occasionally to a great age
and yearly visits the same breeding place, has been
satisfactorily proved in more than one instance, through
birds being taken with a thin copper plate attached to the
leg bearing the date of some former capture. In 1844,
according to Messrs. Broderick and Salvin,t a heron,
on its " passage" to the Didlington heronry, was taken
by Mr. Newcome's hawks near Hockwold, bearing a
label with the inscription " Colonel Wilson, Didlington,
1829," proving that it had been caught m the same
neighbourhood fifteen years before; J and this same bird

* Mr. F. Prere, on a recent visit to the Fritton heronry, was
informed by the keeper that " the birds lay a first clutch of eggs,
which take three weeks to hatch ; after about a fortnight they lay
as many more, which are hatched ofi" with the young birds in the
uest."

t " Falconry in the British Isles," p. 75, pi. xxiv., fig. 1.

X A similar instance, showing a far greater age in the bird
taken, is thus recorded in the " Annual Register" for the year
1767 (p. 107), under date July 7th:— "As the Prince Stadtholder
[of Holland] was taking the diversion of hawking, he caught a
heron with a brass inscription round his legs, setting forth that he
was taken and released by the elector of Cologne in the year 1737."
In Colonel Hamilton's " Reminiscences of a Sportsman" (vol. ii.,
p. 218) a grey heron is also stated to have been " shot in the Habra,
a subdivision of Oran in Algeria," in 1858, which had attached to
one of its legs " a copper ring, bearing the Royal crown of Holland,
and, in English, an inscription " Royal Hawking Club, 1850, Loo,
Netherlands."
T 2

140 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

having, singularly enougli, been captured tlie previous
year by Mr. Newcome, was released on tbe last occasion
with three rings on its legs.

I can certainly confirm, from personal observation,
the statement of Mr. Knox,^ that the parental duties
of the heron " so far from being relaxed after sunset
appear to be redoubled during the night," as I have heard
them at all hours when spending a night on the broads in
the early summer, and have started them one after the
other from the water's edge with the earliest dawn of
morning. Judging from those I have seen at Earlham,
the young appear to remain very late in the nests,
but after they leave their homes and before they acquire
the full power of flight, they are fed on the ground
by the old birds, and when thus collected in little groups
are extremely picturesque. As soon, however, as they
are able to forage for themselves, they disperse over the
surrounding marshes, and many fall victims to the
marsh gunners, being then but little suspicious of
danger, after the protection hitherto afforded them.
JBy the middle of July young herons, in parties of eight
or ten together, may be seen fishing in the marsh
" dykes " about Coldham-Hall, not unfrequently within
shot from the river ; and the shallow waters of Sur-
linerham and Rockland broads are a constant resort.

In autumn they visit the inland Meres to feast on
the eels which abound in those waters, and are then too
frequently shot by the keepers ; but at Scoulton, they
would be far better encouraged than destroyed, inasmuch
as the eels (as I shall hereafter have occasion to show) are
destructive to the young of the black-headed gulls. I
never remember to have crossed Breydon winter or sum-
mer, at low water, without seeing one or more herons on

* " Ornithological Eambles in Sussex." By A. E. Knox, M.A.,
F.L.S., &c., 8rd ed. p. 34.

COMMON HERON. 141

its extensive mud fiats, eitlier patiently waiting tlieir
prey, knee deep in tlie narrow creeks, or in the act of
killing a freshly caught eel, by knocking it repeatedly
on the ground. Sometimes, also, they may be seen
grouped together in every conceivable attitude waiting
for the fall of the tide, reminding one of Mrs. Blackburn's
clever sketch of herons on the shores of Locheil. Next
to Breydon muds, Blakeney and Salthouse are perhaps
their most favourite resorts by the sea, as I have never
visited either place without seeing one or more even
in July and August, and at Salthouse Mr. Dowell once
saw a flock of fourteen.

In such localities, at almost all seasons, they frequent
the salt marshes, backwaters, and sandy flats, or, perched
on the seaward side of a mussel-scalp or projecting
spit of shingle, reluctantly leave their post, only when
the sea washes the under parts of their plumage,^
and this more particularly in winter if frozen out from
their inland haunts, when, unfortunately, during severe
weather a considerable number are killed ; and though
no longer esteemed as an article of food,t find their way

* In tlie "Zoologist" for 1866 (p. 95) Mr. Blake-Knox states
that from the New Bridge at Wexford, he observed a singular
habit in the heron. " Some were lying in the water, the head and
neck only emerging ; there was about a foot of water on the Ooze."

f In former times the heron ranked no less high as a delicacy
for the table than as an object of sport, and whilst a heron tuft was
a badge of honoui% no royal banquet was complete without a bird
or two occupying the chief place at the board. According to
Folkard, in Edward I. reign, the price of a heron was higher than
tliat of any other wild fowl, from sixteen to eighteen pence, the
latter for the young birds. In the Lord North "Accounts," at the
Kirtlinge festivities during Queen Elizabeth's visit, "xxviij
hearnshewes" were supplied at " iiij'i- xiij^- iiijd. " ; and in the
Northumberland " Household Book " it is ordered that " Hearon-
sewys be bought for my Lordes own Mees, so they be at xijd. a

142 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

to our poulterers' shops, or the older specimens pass
into the hands of the birdstuffers.

It matters not where, or how, the heron presents
itself — whether standing motionless in some marsh drain,
with the head drawn back for its unerring aim ; whether
soaring high over head, with laboured flight, bearing food
to its young, or launching itself on the wing from some
such quiet nook on the broads, as is so exquisitely
depicted in one of Yarrell's vignettes (2nd ed., vol. ii.,
p. 640) — still, wherever seen, in the open country, or on
the lofty fir or ash trees of its adopted home, this species
is always a striking object, and one that, from its pictur-
esque beauty, we could ill spare from our rural scenery.
The voracious appetite^ of this species, however, and its
predilection, as a fish-eater, for preserved waters, too
often ensures its destruction by the gun or a baited hook,
as a well stocked fish pond will be visited again and
again by the same bird ; yet in reality the injury it
inflicts is much less than is commonly supposed, and
it is only in very shallow water that injury at all is done,
while the heron, from its feeding on water-rats and
water-beetles (two great enemies of young fish) is often
a positive benefactor. To the decoyman, as Mr. Lubbock
remarks, it is a great nuisance, disturbing the wild fowl

pece." The following entries in the L'Estrange's "Accounts," also,
mark the appreciation in which heron's flesh was then held : —

It. a hernsewe and xij rabbits of store.

It. ij hernsewes and xij rabbetts of store.

Itm a pygge iij hernsewes and xvj rabbetts of store.

It. a fawne and ij hernsewes and xiiij rabbetts of store.

It. viij malards, a bustard, and j hernsewe, killed wt ye crosbowe.

* Bishop Stanley, in his " Familiar History of Birds," states
that in the stomach of a heron, picked up dead on the banks of a
stream in Scotland, were found " the extraordinary number of
thirty-nine fine trout."

COMMON HEEON. 143

by stalking amongst them when asleep on the " banks"
during the day, and from its acute sense of hearing,
giving the alarm long before the fowl near the " pipes"
are conscious of any danger. To the punt and marsh
gunner, also, it is equally obnoxious from the same
cause, its loud " frank," " frank," as it slowly flaps over
the ooze, being evidently received as a " caution " by
all other wild fowl. Of fresh water fish the heron is
particularly partial to pike, and in Norfolk, says Mr.
Lubbock, " gets half its subsistence from the fry of this
fish ; those which were taken by the falcons at Did-
lington had always small pike in their maws." On
one occasion Mr. Newcome saw a heron plunge head
first^ into a marsh " dyke," some five or six feet deep,
and emerge again with a pike in its beak, weighing
from a pound and a-half to two pounds, which he secured
directly after the bird had killed it. He has likewise
taken a pike of that size from the stomach of a heron,
which had been seized by his hawk as soon as it rose.

Fish, however, compose a portion only of a heron's
food, as I have ascertained repeatedly by an examination
of the contents of the stomach. In some, balls of fur,
as much as two inches in diameter, have attested their
extreme partiality for water rats, these pellets being
thrown up after the manner of hawks and owls ; and
mingled with this mass have been also found the slimy
remains and small white bones of the frog, fish scales,
portions of eels, and fragments of water insects, such as
water-beetles and boat-flies. In confinement it is well
known to devour small birds, feathers and all, and on
the broads and rivers, the young coots and waterhens

* This habit is also alluded to by Messrs. Sbeppard and
Whitear, wbo state that a heron, observed by them standing on
the steep bank of a river " in darting at a fish, precipitated himself
into the watei', but was out again in an instant with its prey."

144 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

are, no doubt, similarly disposed of wlien opportunity
offers. In the summer of 1847 Mr. Eising, of Horsey,
disturbed a heron by the water's edge, which rose with
something in its beak, but having dropped its prey
before it had flown far, Mr. Rising secured it, and
found it no other than a young water rail, freshly killed
and bleeding about the head. Mr. Newcome also tells
me that during very severe weather he once saw a heron
pick lip something from the ground, and fly off with it
for about a hundred yards, when it again alighted and
began tumbling about in a very strange manner. On
running up he was just in time to shoot a stoat that
the bird had swallowed alive, but which it was only too
happy to disgorge as quickly as possible.

Whether any portion of our Norfolk herons proceed
further south in severe winters, or more northern
residents visit our shores, I have at present no certain
evidence, but Mr. Frere is informed by a very trusty
Yarmouth gunner that he has seen the heron when at
sea, thirty miles from land, and that he last year (1867)
shot one in November.* At Yarmouth, as Captain
Longe informs me, it is not an unusual thing to see
herons flying direct out to sea, but at low water it is
probable that the shoals and sandbanks, unhappily so
prominent on our dangerous coast, and accessible enough
to such long legged birds, might attract them for a
change of fish diet ; at Cromer, also, I have more than
once watched a heron, through a good glass, coming in a
direction from Yarmouth, and passing along shore with
a slow steady flight, making for some point not nearer,
I should imagine, than Salthouse or Blakeney.

The soaring flight of the heron, which Virgil, with

* The instance above quoted (p. 139, note) seems to show that
the Dutch herons emigrate to Algeria for the winter

PURPLE HERON. 145

liis general accuracy of observation so aptly describes,"^
is always a grand sight to witness, wlietber ascending of
its own free will beyond our powers of vision, or com-
pelled to adopt its spiral ascent, as a means of escape,
from the carrion-crow or other feathered persecutors.
Under either circumstances I have watched at various
times the actions of this noble bird, and could but
contrast the power and ease of its movements, when
almost lost in the clouds, with its clumsy efforts to
rise, and slow laboured flight when abruptly disturbed
in a drain, or from the side of a reed-bush. Herons are
not, I believe, particularly pugnacious amongst them-
selves, but a singular occurrence at Roydon some years
ago is recorded in the " Zoologist " for 1846 (p. 1212)
by the Rev. H. T. Frere. A pair of herons were seen by
a boy fighting on the ground, and on running up to
them one flew away and the other lay still and allowed
the boy to pick it up. He then carried it to a gentleman
who examined the bird, and found it very little injured,
and on being placed on the lawn to recover, it soon
availed itself of the chance, and, stretching its wings,
made off altogether.

ARDEA PURPUREA, Linnaeus.

PURPLE HERON.

•It seems most probable from his minute description
of the plumagef that under the name of " Black Heron"

* " notasque paludes
Deserit, atque altaui supra volat ardea nubem."

Georg : Lib. i., 1. 363, 364.

f " Black on the sides, tlie bottom of the neck, with white grey
on the outside, spotted all along with black on the inside. A black
coppe of small feathers some a span long ; bill pointed and yellow,

u

146 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Sir Thomas Browne included tlie above species in his
"Account of Norfolk Birds/' but even should this be
so, he gives us no reason to suppose that it was then
otherwise than an accidental visitant. Of recent authors
Selby is the first to mention the Purple Heron in con-
nection with this county, stating in his "British
Ornithology " that in the month of May, 1830, a
fine male of this species, killed in Norfolk, came into
his possession,^ and its mate into that of Sir William
Jardine. He also adds in a foot note, "smce writing
the above I have heard of three other specimens, — two
killed in Norfolk and another near London." To this may
be also added the testimony of the late Mr. Hoy, who,
in recording the occurrence of an immature specimen in
1835 ("Mag. Nat. Hist.," new series, vol. i., p. 117), "near
the mouth of the Woodbridge river in Suffolk," says, " I
have also known two or three individiials to have been
met with in Norfolk within a few years." The latter, as
well as the two mentioned in Mr. Selby's foot note, are
no doubt included amongst those of which further par-
ticulars have been given by local writers. Mr. Hunt, mider
the name of Ardea caspia, or " African heron," records
a specimen as shot " a few years since near Ormesby,"
which is no doubt the same bird which, in Sir William
Hooker's MS., is described as shot at Filby in 1810. In
the same MS., also, under the name of the " African
heron," the immature bird in the Norwich Museum (No.
202b), procured near Yarmouth, and presented by the

three inches long ; back heron coloured, intermixed with long
white feathers; the strong feathers black; the breast black and
white, most black; the legs and feet not green, but an ordinary-
dark cock colour,"

* Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., who has recently had an opportunity
of inspecting the late Mr. Selby's collection at Twizell house,
informs me that it contains a fine adult purple heron, most
probably the one sent from Norfolk.

PURPLE HEEON. 147

Rev. G. W. steward, is stated to have been killed in 1831.
rrom the Messrs. Paget we learn that two Yarmouth
specimens were sent, one to Colonel Montagu,* and the
other, by the Rev. George Lucas, to the British Museum.
Amongst other notes very kindly supplied me by Mr.
Joseph Clarke, of Saffron Walden, is a notice of two
fine specimens of this heron in the possession (1831)
of Mr. Stephen Miller, of Yarmouth, shot in that
neighbourhood ; and two were included in Mr. Miller's
sale catalogue in 1853, but I cannot ascertain by whom
they were purchased.

An immature bird in Mr. Spalding's collection at
Westleton, was purchased by him at Yarmouth between
twenty and thirty years ago, and a magnificent pair, in
full adult plumage, forming part of the late Mr. Lombe's
collection at Wymondham, were both shot (as Mrs.
Clarke informs me) on Oulton broad, near Lowestoft, in
the adjoining county, the male in June, 1833, and the
female on the 10th of September of the same year.

Of late years I know of but two specimens obtained
in Norfolk, and both in immature plumage. Of these,
the first was shot on Hoveton broad on the 1st of July,
1862, by Lord Lilford, who, with a small party, was
'* flapper" shooting at the time. On rising from a
reed-bush it was at first mistaken for a bittern, but
as it flew wounded round the broad, it was recognised
by him, from its reddish tints, as a purple heron ; and
on cautiously a^^proaching the spot where it was seen to
alight, the bird was found nearly dead. On dissecting
this specimen, now in the possession of the Rev. T. J.
Blofeld, at Hoveton, I found the body, both outside
and in, immensely fat, and in the stomach were the

* Colonel Montagu's collection now forms pai-t of the British,
series, at the British Museum, which, according to Mr. G. R.
Gray's catalogue, contains two specimens killed in England.
u 2

148 BIRDS OF NORFOLK,

remains of two good sized roach, one quite five inches
long. As far as I could tell, owing to the shot marks,
it was a young female, and presented the following-
appearance in its immature plumage. A slight red
crest on the head, the dark lines down the front of the
neck distinctly marked by young reddish feathers, just
shooting, blended with black longitudinal blotches,
becoming brown on the breast; cere (when dead) greenish;
bill yellowish-green ; quill feathers of the wings and tail
perfect, of a purplish blue colour like the bloom on a
plum ; wing coverts and back tawny, but the hackles,
just showing, of a reddish tint ; the bare portions of the
tibia bright yellow all round, the tarsi dark brown in
front, the posterior portions yellow, as also the under
surface of the feet ; the " feather-tracks " on the breast
and on the lower part of the back composed of bright
yellow patches of down-like floss silk.

Another young bird, a male, in my own collection,
was purchased in the Norwich fishmarket by Mr. S.
Bligh, on the 28th of October, 1865, where it was
hanging up in a perfectly fresh state together with a
fine bittern, and on enquiry both birds were ascertained
to have been shot at Ludham a day or two before. This
bird was also very fat, but weighed only two pounds
three ounces, and the stomach contained merely a dry
pellet of mouse hair, which, from a portion of the tail
remaining in the pellet, was believed by Mr. Bligh to
belong to the short-tailed field species.

The purple heron breeds in Holland in considerable
numbers : its occurrence, therefore, on our shores, from
time to time, is easily to be accounted for.

GEEAT WHITE HERON. 149

ARDEA ALBA, Linnsens.
GREAT WHITE HERON.

I have felt some doubts as to whetlier this fine
species can be fairly included in the Norfolk list^ but
on the whole, I think I should be least justified in
omitting it. A fine specimen in Mr. Gurnej's posses-
sion was purchased by him, with other rarities (all of
which he was assured at the time had been killed in
this county) of the late Mr. Thurtell, of Eaton, when
sellino- off his collection of Norfolk birds.* Another
examj)le of this bird, in Mr. Stephen Miller's collection
at Yarmouth, was also sold in 1853, but of its history,
unfortunately, there is no record, nor am I aware in
whose possession it now is. To this, however, may be
added, on the authority of Mr. Joseph Clarke, of Saffron
Walden, that Mr. MiUer once found "the wings and
feathers " of a great white heron somewhere near
Yarmouth.

The following instances of the occurrence of this
heron in the adjouiing county of Suffolk are thus given
by Messrs. Shepj)ard and Wliitear : — *' On the 3rd of
October last (1823 or 1824) in a walk on the banks of the
river Stour, we observed a large White Heron cross over
from the Suffolk to the Essex side of the river. It
appeared to be pure white, and to stand up rather taller
than some Common Herons which were feeding not far
off. A similar bird was observed in the spring on the
Oakley shores ; and subsequently to our observation, one
was seen on the banks of the river Orwell."

* Most of the rarer birds in Mr. Thurtell's collection were
formerly in the possession of the late Mr. Hunt, as I am informed
by his son. But unfortunately the " British Ornithology" never
having been completed, there is no letter-press to accompany Mr.
Hunt's clever drawing of the great white heron.

150 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

ARDEA GAEZETTA, Linnaeus.
LITTLE EGRET.

This beautiful s]3ecies lias not hitherto been included
in the list of Norfolk rarities ; but whilst there is reason
to believe that others have occurred, the following
authentic instance fully entitles it to a place in the
present work. In 1864, when staying at Worthing, Mr.
J. H. Grurney was informed by Mr. Wells, a local bird-
stufPer, that he had recently seen a Little Egret, said to
have been killed near Norwich, in the possession of
Dr. Diamond, of Twickenham. Further enquiry fully
confirmed this statement, and from the particulars kindly
forwarded to me by Dr. Diamond, it appears that this
specimen was sent him as a *' strange bird" about 1834
or 1835, by Mr. Roger Stoughton, of Sparham, who,
as an old schoolfellow, ujider Yalpy, at the Norwich
Grammar School, knew his ornithological tastes. The
bird was forwarded in the flesh, and was preserved by
a birdstuffer who subsequently went to America and
died there.

Mr. Clarke, of Saffron Walden, who nearly forty
years ago spent several winters at Yarmouth collecting-
natural history objects, and was well acquainted with
all the local collectors at that time, was informed by
the late Mr. Leonard Rudd that the little egret was
" sometimes met with near Yarmouth," and there is
not much reason to doubt that the specimen sold in
1853, with the rest of Mr. Stephen Miller's Yarmouth
collection was killed in that neighbourhood, but I cannot
ascertain by whom it was purchased.

Mr. Lubbock refers to a statement in Loudon's
"Magazine of Natural History" for 1836 (vol. ix., p.
320), by the Rev. E. Yentris, of Cambridge, wherein
the writer says he had "recently been informed that

BUFF-BACKED HERON SQUACCO HERON. 151

this bird annually visited Horsey in Norfolk, till about
twelve years ago, and that since that time it has disap-
peared." Mr. Lubbock suggests that in this case a
confusion has arisen between avocet and egret, which is,
I believe, a plausible explanation of so palpable an error,
since there is no cause for supposing that the egret, rare
enough as an accidental straggler, was ever known
to visit this comity, or indeed any part of England
regularly. In like manner one can but agree with
Fleming and Selby that " the birds mentioned in the
bill of fare at the famous feast of Archbishop Neville in
the reign of Henry IV., under the name of Egrets or
Egrittes," — when " a thousand were served up at a
single entertainment," were not of this species, but
merely lapwings, so termed from their crests ; aigrette
or egret signifying a tuft of feathers.

AEDEA RUSSATA, Wagler.

BUFF-BACKED HERON.

Like the two preceding species this heron is
inserted for the first time in the list of our accidental
visitants on the authority of Mr. Joseph Clarke, who
informs me that a young bird, killed at Martham, near
Yarmouth, in 1827, is now in the Saffron Walden
Museum.

ARDEA COMATA, Pallas.

SQUACCO HERON.

This small but very beautiful species has occurred
in the county in several well authenticated instances,
the earliest of which I can find any record being the
one noticed by the Messrs. Paget as " caught in a

152 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

bow-net that was hanging out to dry* by Ormesby Broad,
in December, 1820." In Sir William Hooker's MS.,
however, although the same facts are stated, this bird is
said to have been taken on the 11th of July, but I
have reason to believe that the former date is correct,
as Mr. Dowellf was informed by the present owner of
this specimen, the Rev. F. Ensor, of Lustleigh rectory,
Newton Abbot, Devonshire, that it was taken in the
the winter. It was captured ahve, but as its proper food
was not known, and it refused to eat, it was killed after
a day or two, and its skin preserved. According to
SelbyJ " two of these herons were killed near Yarmouth
in the month of May, 1831," and judging from local
records there is no doubt that one at least of these birds
is the one now in Mr. J. H. Gurney's collection, and
formerly in the possession of Mr. Miller, of Yarmouth,
which, as stated by Messrs. Paget, was procured at
Oulton, near Lowestoft, in the adjoining county. || Again
on the 12th of June, 1834, a second example appears to
have been obtained at either Ormesby or Filby, and
purchased by Captain Chawner, of Alton, Hants, at that
time collecting at Yarmouth ; and in the same month,
according to a note in the handwriting of the late
Mr. Lombe, another was shot on Lake Lothing, near
Lowestoft. He also mentions one as killed near
Burlingham, Norfolk, but the date is not recorded.

* Mr. Gurney informs me that to the best of his behef a squacco
heron was taken many years ago, in a fisherman's net sjsread on
the beach to dry at Lowestoft or Pakefield.

f See a minute description of this bird by Mr. Dowell in the
" Zoologist " for 1843, p. 78.

X " British Ornithology," vol. ii., p. 26 (note.)

II In the notes supplied me by Mr. Joseph Clarke, the date of
this bird is given as January 5th, but in this case the Messrs.
Paget and Selby are most probably correct.

SQUACCO HERON. 153

Unfortunately it is impossible now to ascertain wlietlier
the two specimens in the late Mr. Lombe's collection at
Wymondham, were procured in this country or were
purchased abroad.

Since these earlier dates I know of no instance of the
squacco heron appearing on our coast till the year 1863,
when, a fine adult male, in my own collection, was killed
on SurHngham Broad, on the 26th of June. Being away
from home at the time, I unfortunately had not the
opportunity of dissecting this bird myself, nor can I say
anything as to the colour of the bill, feet, and legs in a
fresh state, but its plumage is extremely beautiful,
and singularly uninjured by the shot. John Trett, the
marshman who killed it, described it as remarkably
tame, flying round his boat, and alighting agam on the
marsh close to him, apparently interested in his move-
ments ; but the poor wanderer, as usual, received little
welcome, even from its own race, as the rooks kept up
a constant persecution.

In the " Zoologist" for 1865 is a notice by my friend
Mr. Eocke, of Clungunford House, Shropshire, of a
splendid adult male in his collection, which was pur-
chased by him, in the flesh, of a London dealer, on the
the 8th of July, 1864. This, he was informed, had
been killed on the previous day by a gardener, near
Yarmouth; my own enquiries, however, of Yarmouth
gunners and collectors, and Mr. Rocke's subsequent in-
vestigations led us at length to the conclusion that, even
if procured anywhere in England (it being quite possible
that such a bird could be received from the continent
in a perfectly fresh state) it was certainly not killed in
Norfolk. This example, from its perfect plumage was
forwarded to Mr. Gould, who made a drawing of it for
his fine work on the " Birds of Great Britain."

A very good specimen in the possession of Mr.
Reginald Upcher, of Kirby Cane, was ascertained by

154 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

him to have been killed many years ago at Flixton,
near Bungay, Suffolk.

BOTAURUS MINUTUS (Linn^us).

LITTLE BITTERN.

Norfolk is not only remarkable for the number of
scarce species known to have occurred within its bound-
aries, but, also, as in the present instance, for the
number of specimens procured of birds, regarded as
rarities in any part of Great Britain. No doubt
from time immemorial the Little Bittern, as an occa-
sional straggler, has sought shelter in the luxuriant
herbage of the " Broad " district, nor is it at all
improbable that this species may even have remained
with us, at times, to breed,"^ having been found in pairs

* Althoiigli believing in the possibility of tbe little bittern
having bred in Norfolk, I have no satisfactory evidence that
the eggs have ever been taken, and I think it, therefore, the more
necessary to refer to a note in the Huddersfield " Naturalist" for
1866 (vol. ii., p. 366), in which Mr. E. B. Sharpe states that he had
just added to his collection " the following genuine eggs collected in
Norfolk last season by a gentleman," viz., the yellow-billed cuckoo,
rock thrush, little bittern, golden oriole, roseate tern, and sandwich
tern. This marvellous statement, so strangely differing from my
local experience, led to further correspondence (vol. iii., pp. 22
and 45), and the discovery that the genuineness of these rare
Norfolk eggs rested solely on the word of a London dealer, the
gentleman who collected them having most conveniently left for
Norway. Norfolk is unquestionably a rich ornithological county,
and a most likely district for any mendacious dealer to assign for
rare eggs or birds which he desires to palm off as British, but the
selection, in this instance, was particularly unfortunate, inasmuch
as neither the yellow-billed cuckoo nor the rock-thrush have yet
been observed in Norfolk ; the roseate tern is only once recorded

LITTLE BITTERN. 155

during the summer months^ and, in one instance, a per-
fect effof was taken from a female killed near Lowestoft.
Its skulking habits, however, and the almost im-
penetrable nature of the swamps it frequents renders
detection, except by the merest accident, extremely
improbable. Of its identification in this county, I find
no record prior to the commencement of the present
century, but in Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear's cata-
logue it is first mentioned, a specimen having been
killed at Burlingham in the winter of 1819, as those
authors were informed by Mr. Hunt of Norwich. Next
in point of date is most probably the male bird, stated
by Mr. Lombe'^ in his MS. notes, to have been killed
at South Walsham, in May, 1822.

Of the three specimens enumerated by the Messrs.
Paget in 1834, the first, as stated by Yarrell on Mr.
Lubbock's authority, was an immature bird "caught
by a water-dog, at Hickling, near Ludham, during
the extreme frost of 1822-23," and presented by Mr.
Lubbock to the late Mr. Girdlestone. The second,
which formed part of the late Mr. C. A. Preston's col-
lection (now in the possession of Mr. E. S. Preston,
of Yarmouth), is described by the Messrs. Paget as
having been killed at Lowestoft in June, 1830, and
is, very probably, the same mentioned in Mr. Lombe's

to have been seen ; the sandwich tern visits us merely in spring
and autumn, and the only record of the golden oriole remaining
here to breed is extremely doubtful. Nor could I ascertain that
the little bittern had been either heard or seen in any part of the
county in the year 1865. I have reason to know that Mr. Sharpe
is fully convinced that in this instance he was grossly deceived,
and, as a zealous ornithologist, regrets that he ever appended his
name to so doubtful a statement.

* There is no evidence to show whence Mr. Lombe procured
the pair, which are still preserved in his fine collection at
Wymondham.
x2

166 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

MS. notes as sliot at Oulton, near Lowestoft, in May
of that year, whilst the third, said to have been shot
at Barnaby to which no date is attached by the Messrs.
Paget, is no doubt the adult male which, as I learn
from Mr. Joseph Clarke, was shot near Yarmouth in
1833, and formed part of Mr. Miller's collection. Dr.
Diamond, of Twickenham, the fortunate owner of the
Norfolk little egret, also informs me that he has two
little bitterns, killed near Bawdeswell, in this county,
which were purchased and sent to him by his friend,
the late Mr. E,. Stoughton, of Sparham, somewhere
about the year 1834.

To Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., I am indebted for the
following extract from a letter addressed to Mr. Henry
Doubleday, of Epping, by the late Mr. Heysham, and
dated Carlisle, September 25th, 1839 : — " From a letter
which I received a day or two ago from a friend* in
Norfolk. ^ -x- * I find that a very fine pair
of adult little bitterns were killed at or near South
Walsham, about two months ago. It is generally
supposed that these birds had a nest when captured."
Mr. Yarrell also records this pair on Mr. Heysham's
authority ; and, as Mr. Gurney (in whose possession
they still remain) informs me, they were killed by the
marshman [Samuel Ebbage], who then had the care of
South Walsham broad ; the man, I believe, who killed
on the same broad the pair of Savi's warblers, in the
Norwich Museum. By him they were sold in the flesh
to Mr. G. Johnson, then a birdstuffer, in Norwich, and
it was from Ebbage' s statement to Johnson that the
birds were supposed to have had a nest. A male bird,
also, in Mr. J. H. Gurney's collection, and formerly
belonging to the late Mr. Thurtell, of Eaton, was said

* The friend here alluded to was no doubt Mr. J. H. Gurney,
senior, at that time in frequent correspondence with Mr, Heysham.

LITTLE BITTEEN. 157

to have been killed near Yarmouth, but the exact date
is not known. Mr. Rising, of Horsey, has a pair, which
he believes were killed at Herringfleet, near Lowe-
stoft, some years since, but whether identical with
any I have already enumerated I am unable to
determine. On the same authority, however, I may
add that a pair of these birds between the years
1824 and 1829, frequented some swampy ground
adjoining the parsonage at Catfield, from which locality
some eggs, resembling those of the little bittern, were
taken at the time by the then Curate, the Rev.
James Layton, by whom they were shown to Mr.
Rising. Mr. Rising also informs me that in February,
1842, a Kttle bittern was shot on his Breydon marshes,
but of this I can find no further record, and the
occurrence of another sx^ecimen at South Walsham,
about the 11th of June, 1849 (in the possession of the
Rev. J. Burroughes, of Lingwood), is thus noticed in
the " Zoologist " for that year (p. 2498) by the Rev. H.
T. Frere,"^ " On two or three successive nights, when
sailing on the broad, we had heard a noise in the
marsh at the side, resembling the bark of a dog, or
more nearly the grunt a paviour gives when dropping
his rammer. Though all the party were tolerably well
acquainted with the notes of the marsh birds, this was
a novelty to us. A marshman, however [the one before
mentioned], recognised it as the note of the little
bittern, one of which (at present in the possession of
Mr. Jary, of South Walsham) he had shot some thirty
years before. I sent him a message oiFering him a price
for the bird, and on Saturday night or early on Sunday
morning he shot it, but took it to another person and

* The same bird, recorded in the "Zoologist" for 1851 (p. 2989),
by Mr. J, O. Harper, as "a beautiful male, preserved by Knight
of Norwich."

168 BIRDS OF NOKFOLK.

sold it for the price I had offered, much to my annoy-
ance and disappointment. It is something, however, to
have heard this rare bird. When he shot the other it
was after several attempts to get it to rise, in which he
had failed ; he then waited, and about four o'clock in
the morning it rose spontaneously."

There is a notice, also, in the same volume of the
"Zoologist" (p. 2528), by Mr. J. Smith, of Yarmouth,
to the effect that three specimens of the little bittern
had been shot in the marshes, near Yarmouth, during
the spring of 1849, but no further particulars are given
respecting them. In a recent visit, however, to the
Bury Museum, I found an adult female of this species
amongst Mr. Dennis's birds, which, in the memorandum
attached, was said to have been killed at Potter-
Heigham, on the 18th of May, 1849, and it was also
stated that a male had beeii shot, at the same place,
on the following day. These I have no doubt are two
of the birds referred to by Mr. Smith.

On the 17th of May, 1852, as recorded by Mr.
Gurney in the " Zoologist " (p. 3503) a young male that
had nearly completed the assumption of the adult
plumage was killed at Somerton,"^ one of the smaller
broads. This specimen, which is preserved amongst the
British birds in the Norwich Museum (No. 207) is
described by Mr. Gurney as having been in good condi-
tion, with the remark that ^^the stomach contained the
caudal moiety of a roach, the anterior portions of which
appeared to have been digested, but which, when entire,
must have been four inches long besides the tail."

Again, in the first week of December, 1856, another

* This is evidently the same bird which was erroneously
recorded in the " Naturalist " of that year (p. 252), by Mr. J. O.
Harjier, as killed at Somerleyton, near Lowestoft, a far less likely
locality.

LITTLE BITTERN. COMMON BITTERN. 159

specimen, killed in Mr. Heath's marshes at Horning, was
sold in Yarmouth to some local collector, and on the
3rd of September, 1864, the last that has been observed
in this county was shot off a *'rand" on Horsey Mere.
This bird, which was in perfect plumage, was sent to
London by Mr. Rismg, to be stuffed, but he assures
me that the specimen returned to him, as his own, had
not the slightest resemblance to the one he forwarded,
which he has never been able to recover.

From this list of some twenty specimens, all pro-
cured within the bounds of the " Broad " district,
either in Norfolk or Suffolk, it will be seen that taking
only the cases in which the exact dates are known, no
less than nine have been killed during the summer
months (May, June, and July) ; four in winter
(December and February) ; and one only in autumn
(September). With reference to the somewhat puzzling
plumage of this species, Messrs. Gurney and Fisher
remark that, " from an inspection of the specimens
obtained, from time to time, in this district, we incline to
the opinion that, if the females of this species ultimately
arrive at a plumage similar to that of the adult males,
as is asserted by modern naturalists, it is only at a much
more advanced period than that at which the same
plum.age is assumed by the latter, and it appears quite
certain that the female in the supposed immature
plumage pairs with the adult male."

BOTAURUS STELLARIS (Linnaeus.)

COMMON BITTEEN.

It is a remarkable fact, as I have before stated, that
of the rarer species recorded by Sir Thomas Browne
as nesting in Norfollc in 1671, but two, the spoonbill

160 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

and tlie cormorant, had ceased to do so at tlie com-
mencement of the j)resent century. But whilst from
this time we must date those agricultural changes
which were destined to alter the general aspect of
the county, it was not until within the last fire and
twenty or thirty years that these, combined mth other
causes, resulted in the extermination of so many resident
species. Amongst our marsh-breeders the curtailment,
and in some places total reclamation of their haunts
through drainage, has been the main cause of extinc-
tion, but the increasing demands of collectors, of late
years, and the high prices given for both birds and
eggs — the cheapness of firearms, and rapid transit by
rail to all parts of the kingdom, affording every
facility — ^have conduced not a little to the same end,
and former residents, receiving additions to their
numbers in autumn and winter, can be described now
only as migrants, perhaps occasionally remaining to
breed. As such the Bittern alone holds its place
amongst the birds of Norfolk at the present time,
although, like the heron, entered as " common," in
Hunt's List in 1829 ; and our sexagenarian sportsmen
well remember the time when they used to flush both
young and old birds from the reed-beds whilst flapper-
shooting in the early autumn.

Mr. Lubbock, whose residence for many years in
the neighboui'hood of the broads, renders his admirable
description of the habits of our rarer marsh-birds of
peculiar interest, wi-ites in 1845, " the bittern has
decreased much in number in the last twenty years.
I remember when these birds could be found with
certainty in the extensive tracts of reed about Hicklmg
broad and Heigham Sounds. Four or five might be
seen in a morning. The nest and young of this species
appear to have been always difiicult to find. After
diligent enquiry, I could ascertain only two instances in

COMMON BITTERN. 161

whicli the nest had been seen with the young." * * *
The want of actual knowledge of the nest itself does not
in the least invalidate the fact of the bird breeding with
us. A water dog once brought me a very young bittern,
but, from the precarious nature of the reed-bed, and the
difficulty of moving even a few yards further, I could
not discover the nest whence he took it."

It is of course, from this very reason, extremely
difficult to say when the bittern actually ceased to be
a resident in the " Broad " district, but from the time
I commenced making notes on the birds of this county
in 1850, until the year 1866, I could not ascertain that
any one had either seen or heard a bittern during the
summer months, and as there are still marshmen in
those parts well acquainted with their former haunts
and habits, I beheve the market price of such eggs
from any British locality would, in spite of all diffi-
culties, have resulted in a " find," had a pair of birds
remained.

For at least fifteen or sixteen years, then, prior to
1866, I believe this species had altogether deserted us
during the breeding season, but in the summer of
1866, the "boom" of a bittern was again heard on
Hoveton broad, and the bii'ds themselves were recog-
nised by Wilham Hewitt, who, as marshman and keeper
to the JRev. T. J. Blofeld, had every means of observing
them. No nest appears to have been found, but from
enquiries made in that neighbourhood, at the time, by
my friend Mr. G. Gr. Fowler, it is most probable that
they had selected the Woodbastwick side for their home,
ranging from thence over the two Hovetons.

On the 12th of June of that year, it was my
good fortune, by the merest accident, to see one of
them, though at the time quite unaware that their
presence in that neighbourhood had been detected
by any one. Through the kindness of a friend, I had

Y

162 BIKDS OF NOEFOLK.

been enjoying a short cruise on tlie Bure and its tribu-
taries, and on that day following its tortuous course
above Acle Bridge we chanced to arrive, late in the
afternoon, at a point of this narrow stream where
Wroxham on the one side and Hoveton on the
other give the impression, almost, of one vast broad
bisected only by a navigable channel. Here, conve-
niently moored against a broad dry " rand " the
" Ripple " was made snug for the night, and whilst the
skipper busied himself with culinary operations, I took
my stand on the cabin roof to obtain a more extended
view of those picturesque waters. Presently as I was
watching the actions of a pair of great-crested grebes,
alternately diving and preening their glossy feathers, a
laro'e bird rose from a dense reed-bed on the Hoveton
side, and flapped slowly over the water to a similar
shelter opposite. There was no mistaking it, though
I had never before seen a bittern on the wing, and I
anxiously waited for another chance of confirming my
impression. In less than a quarter of an hour it rose
again, and having my glass ^' well on" as it flew, heron-
like, back again to its former covert, the colour of
the plumage together with the rounded form of the
wings, left no doubt on my mind ; and on subsequently
informing Mr. Blofeld of the fact, I learnt that its
peculiar cry had been heard prior to my visit.

The sight of a bittern on the wing, with all the
accessories of that wild watery waste, is one, now-a-
days, at least, not likely to be forgotten by the most
indifferent observer, much less an ornithologist; but
there are other circumstances connected with that
particular evening which have indelibly impressed the
novelty on my mind. Still waiting and watching in
the vain hope of witnessing a third flight, my attention
was arrested by the rich crimson hue that had gradually
pervaded all the clouds to the eastward, and turning I

COMMON BITTERN. 163

beheld one of those marvellous sunsets for which the
flat waters of this comity have been always celebrated.*

In the foreground a green belt of reeds and sedges
fringed the wide expanse of Wroxham Broad^ across
whose rippling waters flashed a light pathway as of
molten gold ; and as onward and upward the eye sought
to trace out that heavenward track to the focus of all
its brightness, the limit of human vision was reached in
one transplendent halo. Just then, as if to add a
further charm to that which in itself appeared perfec-
tion, a rainbow of unusual brilliance spanned both
broads and river ; its noble arch being only less vividly
reflected on the clouds beyond.

It were vain, indeed, to attempt by pen or palette to
depict that glorious sky, but looking far into the vista
of orange-tinted clouds, opening out, as it were per-
spectively, into untold glories, a strange yearning
seemed to possess one's mind, and thoughts, too deep
for utterance, were symbolized only in the " 0 ! how
heavenly !" of our finite judgment. Yet, already, whilst
wrapt in the contemplation of that gorgeous spectacle, a
change, gradual though not unfelt, was stealing over the
scene, and as the cool greys once again took the place
of the rose-colour and the violet, and the orange and
crimson became absorbed, one turned, almost with a
shudder, to the now cold dark stream, and with a
chilling sense of exclusion came a marvelling as to
those things which " eye hath not seen nor ear heard,"
nor the heart of man hath virtue ^Ho conceive."

Although remaining on board the boat that night,
with the hope of hearing its booming notes, the
bittern did not gratify me in that respect, and probably,
after sunset, took flight to some distant part of the

* See Walter White's " Eastern England" and ISTall's " History
of Great Yarmoutli."
t2

164 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

broad. In fhe following summer, one if not two pairs
remained in the same locality, notwithstanding that a
single bird had been unfortunately shot during the pre-
vious season; and on visiting the Hoveton guUery, on
the 7th of May, Hewitt pointed out to me the spot
where he had seen one on the 13th of April. The Rev.
J. Burroughes also informs me that he both heard and
saw one there about the same time. No nest was
found, but though left, I believe, quite undisturbed in
their summer quarters, I fear they must have been
killed during the following winter, when two or three
bitterns were shot in that neighbourhood, as I cannot
learn that they have since been either heard or seen.

The summer of 1868 was, however, remarkable for
the discovery at Upton, near Acle, one of the smaller
broads, not only of two eggs of the bittern, but subse-
quently of a young bird taken alive in its first plumage.
The eggs, as stated in the "Zoologist" (s.s., p. 1221), by
Mr. T. E. Gunn, of this city, in whose collection they still
remain, were in a perfectly fresh state when taken from
the nest (two only had been laid) on the 30th of March,
and were exhibited by him in the yelk at a meeting of
the Norwich Naturalist Society on the 6th of April.
From the labouring man, of whom they were purchased,
Mr. Gunn ascertained "that the old birds had been
observed for some time past in the vicinity of the broad,
and, from their appearance and manners, he suspected
they had nested or were preparing to do so." The nest
was composed of reeds and sticks. Of the genuineness
of these eggs, there can be no question, although the
rarity of the occurrence caused some doubts at the time.
In size they are, if anything, somewhat larger than the
generaUty of the eggs of this species, but one, as cor-
rectly stated by Mr. Gunn, " is a trifle bigger than the
other, and presents a beautiful oval form ; the other
tapers more at the ends, particularly at one end." Still,

COMMON BITTERN. 165

if furtlier confirmation of their identity were wanting,
we have the fact, that a young bird, caught alive in the
very same locality, on the 25th of May, was purchased
by Mr. Cole, a bird preserver, in Norwich, on the 28th,
and sold by him a few days later to Mr. F. Bell, jun.,
of the Bracondale nursery. From a comparison of the
above dates, there can scarcely be a doubt, I think, that
this nestling, which, when first seen by my friend Mr.
Southwell, on the 10th of June, appeared about a month
old, was the result of a more successful attempt on the
part of the same old birds to rear their offspring. When
captured it was partly in the down, but on the 10th of
June, Mr. Southwell found the wing feathers well formed
and about half gi'own, only a patch of down remaining
at the back of the head. Owing to my absence from
Norwich, I was unable to visit this most interesting
bird until the 26th of June, when all traces of down
had disappeared, and a slight crest was perceptible about
the head, but the quills of the primaries still exhibited
a very juvenile appearance. It appeared to be in
good health, and fed heartily on small birds and fish,
young frogs, raw meat, and worms ;* in fact seemed not
at all particular as to its diet. Before strangers it was
extremely shy, endeavouring to hide behind any object
in its cage, and when in action, from its stealthy
movements and outstretched neck, resembled some

* Sir Thomas Browne mentions one " kept in a garden for
two years," whicli was fed on " fish, mice, and frogs ; in default
whereof, making a scrape for sparrows and small birds, the bitour
made shift to maintain herself upon them." In like manner in
" British Birds in their Haunts," by the Rev. C. A. Johns, a captive
heron is described as perching on an old carriage wheel in the
corner of a court yard, and lying in wait for sparrows and martins.
On one occasion it was seen to pierce a martin as it flew past, and
having plunged its prey several times in a water-trough, swallow
it entire.

166 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

large species of rail. Failing to find snf&cient shelter,
it would take refuge in one corner, and croucliing down
on its tarsi, face the intruder with the most peculiar,
not to say comical expression. As in Mr. Gould's clever
drawing in his '^ Birds of Grreat Britain," the head and
neck were drawn back into its shoulders, with the throat
and beak raised, almost perpendicularly, whilst from near
the base of its sharp mandibles, a pair of keen eyes were
directed forwards and downwards, which, from whatever
side approached, seemed always fixed on one's own.
This bird was still in good health, though in rather
ragged plumage from its restless habits, when I last
saw it on the 1st of October.

Hitherto I have spoken only of the bittern as a
denizen of the broads, but there is reason to believe that
it was formerly even more abundant still in the Hock-
wold and Feltwell fens in the south-western part of the
county. There, as Mr. Alfred Newton was informed in
1853 by William Spencer,^ a thateher, at Feltwell, whose
great-grandfather, grandfather, and uncle have all been
gamekeepers in that neighbourhood, '^' bottleybumps "f
used to be extremely plentiful, selling like snipe for one
shilling a piece. His grand-father used to have one
roasted every Sunday for dinner, and they would lie in
the sedge (which was in places five or six feet high), till
they were nearly trodden upon. They were most com-
mon about Popplelot, and his uncle once shot five in one
day. Drainage, however, and an extensive reclamation
of marsh ground has long ago expelled them from these
once favourite haunts, with the ruifs, redshanks, and
black-terns, their former companions, and now only an
occasional straggler is seen during the winter months.

* The same man whose evidence as to the heron nesting on
sallow bushes, in Feltwell fen, has been given at p. 132, note.

f Bottle-bump, or Bottleybump, a provincial name for the
bittern, so tei'med, no doubt, from its peculiar cry.

COMMON BITTERN. 167

As Mr. Lubbock remarks, the known instances of
either nests or young of this bird having been found are
somewhat rare^ but to those cited in his " Fauna " may
be added the notice by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher of a
young bird"^ taken by Mr. D. B. Preston many years ago,
together with an addled egg, from a nest at Eanworth,
a broad specially mentioned by Messrs. Paget as a
breeding haunt of the bittern, and where, according to
the late Mr. Girdlestone's notes, a bittern was once shot
on the 11th of May, in the act of feeding her yomig.
Mr. A. Newton is in possession of a bittern's egg,
obtained from Mr. E. S. Preston, who assured him
that it came from the collection of the late Mr. John
Smith, of Yarmouth, and that it was taken at Horsey,
in 1841. t A very interesting account also of a young
Norfolk bittern, from the pen of Mr. Jecks, of Thorpe,
near Norwich, is published in a small work by the Eev.
E. S. Dixon, formerly of Cringleford, on "the Dove-
cote and Aviary. J This bird, was picked up alive by
a wherryman, in some marshes near Yarmouth, about
the year 1845, and was in an unfledged state. It
was extremely shy at first and refused all food, but
eventually took kindly to a fish diet, and when once
settled in its new home became very pugnacious, and
would snap its beak viciously at all visitors, but proved
an arrant coward when resolutely approached. It would
eat fish and smaU birds, swallowing the latter whole

* See " Zoologist " for 1846, p. 1321, where a figure of this
young bittern is given in Messrs. Gurney and Fisher's paper on
the " Birds of Norfolk."

t Mr. A. Newton has also another British bittern's egg, which
formerly belonged to Mr. J. WoUey. This was taken with three
others in 1849 or 1850, on the borders of a reservoir, near Tring,
Hertfordshire.

X " The Dovecote and Aviary," by the Eev. E. S. Dixon, M.A.,
London, 1851.

168 BIEDS OF NOEFOLK.

with all tlie feathers, and occasionally an entire rat.
It died in the severe winter of 1847 ; it was presumed
from cramp, but from its unsociable nature was but
httle regretted. "During the calm summer nights,"
writes Mr. Jecks, ^'I was frequently awoke with its
very peculiar cry or boom ; this call was continued for
about two months, June and July, and nearly all
night — 'boom' ! 'boom' ! — in a loud yet pleasant tone.
Some owls that were confined near him also did now
and then to the moon complain, on which occasions
the bittern would swell its voice to its utmost power,
trying to drown their more feeble cries."

In Mr. Gurney's collection are three nestling bit-
terns, which were purchased by him of Mr. Knight,
of Norwich, either in 1847 or 1848. Mr. Knight
received them in the flesh, and when recently stuffed
they passed into Mr. Gurney's possession. I cannot
now ascertain the exact locality from whence these
birds were taken ; but it was either Surlingham or
Ranworth, the latter being by far the most likely.

The Eev. J. Burroughes who, as an old sportsman
in this county, has had much expei'ience in marsh-
shootmg, assures me that he has killed many bitterns
in his time, both in the early autumn and m winter,
and has also seen their eggs from various localities.
Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear likewise speak of receiv-
ing the eggs of this species from marshes in Norfolk.

William Hewitt, of Hoveton, informs me that he once
found a bittern's nest, many years ago, when searching
for leaches ia the moist bottoms of the coot's nests,
and in the bittern's nest he likewise found three.* On
one occasion he surprised a bittern in a reed bush,
in the very act of booming, with its head and neck

* I once took a leach from the stomach of a bittern, which
lived in water for some time afterwards.

COMMON BITTEEN. 169

straight up, as one miglit naturally suppose, and not
buried in the mud or tlie hollow of a reed stem, after
the quaint conceit of former naturalists. A remarkable
fact, also, with reference to the nesting habits of
this species, is mentioned by Mr. Lubbock, who states
that in two instances in which four young were dis-
covered in the nest, " two were apparently much older
than the others." One pair being described "as more
than half-grown, and the other pair covered with
nestling down and but a few days hatched." Might
not this be owing, as is here generally believed by
country people to be the case with the heron, to the
second set of eggs being hatched by the young of the
first brood ?

By some writers the bittern is described as ascending
at times in spiral curves like the heron, till almost lost
in the clouds,"^ but to this habit I can find no reference
in our local authors ; Mr. Lubbock, however, states that
one compelled to rise " in the full blaze of a July noon,
flew hither and thither as if quite dazzled and confused
by so much light."

As a migrant the bittern is a regular, and in severe
seasons very numerous, winter visitant, a fact which has
become much more apparent since its extinction as a
resident species. Indeed, it is not improbable that in

* Thompson, in his " Birds of Ireland," assumes that from this
habit, the bittern acquired its specific name of stellaris, but from
the following note kindly supplied me by Mr. Alfred Newton, thia
term seems rather to have originated from its speckled or starry
plumage. " Gesner, so far as I know the first man who called this
bird stellaris, says, (Hist. Anim. iii., p. 208, ed. 1555) 'Ardea
stellaris Aristoteli et PUnio memoratur, 'asreplas Graece cog-
nominata, quod punctis tanquam stellis eleganter picta distinc-
taque sit.' " Aldrovandus in 1599, evidently quotes Gesner on
this point ; and Linnaeus, who also quotes Gesner, adopted the
name of stellaris.

170 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

former times the number actually breeding in Norfolk
was somewhat over estimated, owing to these foreign
arrivals at the end of autumn, and it is not improbable
that even the five bitterns shot in one day by Spencer's
uncle were killed in the winter. Can nothing be done
to stop the annual slaughter of such visitants as these ?
of which some few, I feel confident under a protective
system, would still pretty regularly remain to breed with
us. Unhappily the hoopoe in summer, and the bittern
in winter, are jpar excellence the " rarse aves " of provincial
journalism, and this, in spite of the negative evidence so
frequently afforded in our markets as regards the latter,
by the sight of two or three exposed for sale at one
time, which may be purchased at sums varying from one
and sixpence to half a crown. My own notes during the
last eighteen years are the most perfect refutation of
the absurd notion that the bittern is a rare bird in
Norfolk because it has ceased to breed with us, and
although my list of examples killed during that period,
contains only such as have come under my notice,'*
.from being either sold in our fishmarket or brought into
Norwich to be stuffed, yet I was scarcely prepared to find
them amount to one hundred and eight specimens. Of
these the greater number have been killed on the large
broads that border upon the river Bure, not far from the
coast, as at Hickling, Horsey, and Heigham-Somids, or
still further inland, about Wroxham and Hoveton, and
occasionally at Barton and Ranworth. Many also have
been procured from the smaller waters of Upton, Lud-
ham, Sutton, and Stalham, but with the exception of
the Burgh end of Breydon, they are but rarely met

* Captain Longe when residing at Yarmouth, assured me that
he believed nearly every winter from ten to twenty bitterns were
brought into Yarmouth from the broad district, and a dealer
there once assured me that he had had twenty in two months.

COMMON BITTERN. 171

with on those broads, such as Surlingham and Rockland,
which lie parallel with the course of the Yare. In
the neighbourhood of Lynn they are in some seasons
extremely plentiful, and specimens have been shot at
times from the reed-beds on the Cley and Blakeney
marshes. Amongst other localities, also, where chance
stragglers have been met with, some of them at a
considerable distance from the coast, may be mentioned
Lakenham and Saxlingham near Norwich ; Attle-
borough, Merton, and Briston ; Gunton, Sherringham,
and Beeston, near Cromer ; and the Hempstead ponds,
near Holt.

Of this number it will be seen by the subjoined
table the chief bulk have appeared in mid- winter during,
or immediately preceding, severe weather ; and of late
years, the winters of 1853-54, 1854-55, and 1859-60,
and still more recently of 1861-62, 1863-64, and
1866-67, have been remarkable for the number of these
migrants killed in different parts of the county. No less
than six were brought into Norwich for preservation, in
one week, in January, 1864. I find but two or three
autumnal stragglers recorded in my notes, all in the
month of October, and of those killed in February and
March, there can be little doubt that some, if undis-
turbed, would have remained to breed ; whilst the one
purchased in a perfectly fresh state in our market, on
the 3rd of April, may even have had a nest at the
time : —

October 3

November 8

December 35

January 36

82

82

February 15

March 10

April 1

Total 108

The difference in size of certain specimens is very
marked, which, according to Montagu and other
authors, is a sexual distinction, the females being
z 2

172 BIEDS OF NOEFOLK.

smaller tlian tlie males ; and with regard to tlieir
plumage both very light and very dark varieties are
observable amongst them, the former having the double
line of markings down the front of the throat and
neck, of a light reddish tint, the latter of a uniform
dark brown, but the remainder of the plumage does not
necessarily partake of the same hue. When freshly
killed I have noticed a beautiful purplish bloom, as in
old herons, on the feathers of the head and back, and
the colour of the cere is then extremely vivid. I never
remember to have observed the double iris in this
species, described by Pennant, but Messrs. Sheppard
and Whitear remark, " in one which we examined that
[iris] near the pupil was reddish-yellow, the outer one
hazel."

On the 7th of March, 1862, I examined two fine
birds, which had been killed at a right-and-left shot,
at Hickling, as they rose from the same tussocky mound,
and from their thus lying together I expected to find
them male and female. On dissection, however, they
proved to be both males. These were in fall adult
plumage with a rich bloom on the feathers, and the
markings of the throat in each of them was of a hght
reddish tint, with the upper portions of the plumage
somewhat darker. They were about the same size,
but one had the cere of a beautiful pink, whilst in
the other the same parts were of the ordinary bluish
horn colour. In the first the testes were extraordi-
narily developed, being an inch and three-quarters in
length, and the whole breast and stomach was covered
with perfect layers of fat. The other, in equally good
condition, had much smaller testes, scarcely two-thirds
of the former measurement; and in a third example,
killed about the same time, they were scarcely five-
eighths of an inch long. In the stomachs of these birds
I found the remains of several eels, one nearly perfect.

COMMON BITTERN. 173

of about six inclies, and a roacli of five and a lialf inclies
in length, with the debris of water beetles (Notonecta)
and Dytiscus marginalis, with their wing-cases complete.
Another example, killed in December, 1865, contained a
perch seven and a half inches long, and various small
fragments of the common reed, swallowed, no doubt,
accidentally when killing the fish ; and an extremely
fine bird from Ludham, sold in our fishmarket in
October, of the same year, weighed three pounds and
a half, but had an eel twelve and a half inches long in
its gullet. Mr. Lubbock mentions one which was shot
with a water-rail whole in its stomach.

Under the old name of " bittour " this species is but
once entered in the L'Estrange accounts, and is there
specially mentioned as "kylled wt ye crosbowe," but
there is no reference to it as affording sport for the
falconer in those days, although, according to Messrs.
Brodrick and Salvin, it was a very favourite quarry for
heronhawks when formerly abundant. As an article for
the table it ranked with the heron in the olden time ;
indeed to my taste it is infinitely superior, having more
of the true wild fowl flavour, and may, therefore, as
Sir Thomas Browne hath it, "be esteemed the better
dish." In the Northumberland Household Book, " Byt-
ters for my Lordes owne Mees at Principal Peestes"
are " to be at xii<i- a pece so they be good," being the
same price as pheasants in those days ; and at the
Kertlinge festivities, in the Lord North accounts, five
dozen and ten " Bitters " are entered at xviij^^- vjs. viij<i-
A curious superstition with reference to this bird is thus
mentioned by Willughby : " Its hind claw is remarkably
long, and being a supposed preservative for the teeth,
is some times set in silver and used as a tooth pick."
Probably some of these natm'al curiosities may still exist
in collections, although the virtue has gone out of them,
and even their use become unknown.

174 BIRDS OF NOEPOLK.

In the " Zoologist" for 1848 (p. 1965), the following
passage occurs, amongst other ornithological records,
by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher : — " An example of the
American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) , another
interesting addition to the birds of Norfolk, has been
killed at Yarmouth ; but not having seen the bird, we
are not at present able to add anything to the bare
mention of its occurrence." No doubt further enquiry
at the time convinced the above authors that they had
been misinformed ; and as neither Mr. Gurney nor Mr.
Fisher have now any recollection of the circumstance,
this species holds no place in the Norfolk list.

NYCTICORAX GARDENI* (Dickinson).

NIGHT-HERON.

The earliest record I can find of the occurrence of
this species in Norfolk is the statement in Sir W.
Hooker's M.S., on the authority of the late Mr. Lilly
Wigg, that, "Mr. Stagg shot one of these birds in
Yarmouth about the year 1800. "f We have next the

* As I have undertaken to follow the nomenclature of Yarrell,
I am compelled to use this name, but it is now well known that
the Ardea gardeni of Gmelin, was originally described from a
young example of the Araerican night-heron, and not the European
representative species, which should stand as Nycticorax griseus
(Linn.) It is not easy to ascertain who first confounded the two
birds, but I imagine that Mr. Dickinson was the author of the
mistake (" Trans. Linn. Soc." v., p. 276), and accordingly append
his name to that of the bird, it being clearly understood that his
Ardea gardeni was not the same as A. gardeni (Gmelin.)

f Like the subsequent specimen in 1824, this bird was shot
from a tree in a nursery garden, as stated by Messrs. Sheppard
and Whitear, although the date is not given by them.

NIGHT-HERON. 175

evidence of Messrs. Paget, in 1834, that Mr. Youell had
known six or seven of them to have been killed in
that locahty, at different times, and in Mr. Hunt's List
(1829), one is said to have been killed at Docking, and
another at Holkham; the latter, according to Messrs.
Sheppard and Whitear, in 1819. Again, on the 24th of
May, 1824, from a fruit tree, out of the north gates at
Yarmouth, vt^as shot the memorable specimen, which, first
recorded by Mr. Youell, in the Linnean Society's Trans-
actions (vol. xiv., p. 588), as the Cayenne night-heron
(Ardea cayennensis, Linn.^, was, as such, included by
Selby in his "Illustrations of British Ornithology.""^
This bird, however, which is now in Mr. Gurney's
collection, and was purchased by him from the late Mr.
Thurtell, of Eaton,t has been long since established as
only a very fine adult specimen of Nycticorax griseus,
remarkable, as stated by Mr. Youell, for having " six
crest feathers of unequal length," and for the straight-
ness and rigidity of those feathers. I may here remark,
however, that Dr. Henry Giglioli, in his " Notes on the
birds observed at Pisa and its neighbourhood in 1864"
(Ibis, 1865, p. 60), particularly mentions the variable
number of the feathers in the occipital crest of the
common night-heron, he having procured a specimen
with six, although he fomid three the more usual
number. In the same winter of 1824, according to
some notes recently supplied me by Mr. Rising, of
Horsey, no less than three specimens of this heron were
killed on the North Denes, at Yarmouth, and another.

* So recorded also in Messrs. Paget's " Sketch," in Hunt's
List and in the " Catalogue of British Birds," by Mr G. R. Gray,
of the British Museum.

t Mr. Thurtell bought this bird originally from Harvey, a
Yarmouth bird preserver, and beHeving it to be a true Cayenne
night-heron, refused £30 for it, offered him by the late Mr. Lombe.

176 BIEDS OF NORFOLK.

in his own collection, was sliot by his father about two
hundred yards from the front of his residence, at Horsey,
in April, 1827.

Since that time this species has become an extremely
rare visitant to our coast,"'^ the only recent instance,
to my knowledge, being an immature bird, killed on the
8th of November, 1860, in the Caister marshes, near
Yarmouth. This specimen, now in the collection of the
Rev. C. , J. Lucas, of Burgh, and sent to him, in the
flesh, as an American bittern, resembles the second
figure in Yarrell's wood-cut, ha,viiig a triangular
white patch, of more or less extent, at the tip of each
feather. The feathers of the head and neck are also
streaked with brown and white, each feather broadly
edged with brown ; the quill and centre of the web
being white throughout.f It is most probable that the
specimen sold in Mr. MUler's collection, in 1853, was one
of those mentioned by the Messrs. Paget as obtained
in that neighbourhood, and Messrs. Sheppard and
Whitear were informed by Mr. Hunt, of Norwich, that
"one in his possession was shot in Suffolk, and was
kept alive some time, being only slightly wounded.'*

* A male niglit-lieron, in the Wisbech Museum, as I learn from
Mr. T. W. Foster, was killed at South Brink, Wisbech, in July,
1849.

t In the " Ibis" for 1861, p. 53, in his notes " On the Orni-
thology of Hongkong, Macao, and Canton," my friend Mr. R.
Swinhoe gives a most interesting description of the breeding habits
of this species, from which it appears that " the immature plumage
of the yearling undergoes little change until the second winter,
or until the bird is over two years old." A bfrd in its first
plumage was found sitting on a nest containing eggs, and the
testes of one dissected in its juvenile dress, plainly indicated its
powers to breed at that age.

WHITE STORK. 177

CICONIA ALBA, Bechstein.

WHITE STOEK.

"Ciconia raro hue advolat/' wrote Sir Thomas
Browne,* in a letter to Dr. Merrett, in 1668, quoting,
indeed, the latter's own words,t but adding, " I have
seen two in a watery marsh, eight miles off [Norwich] ;
another shot, whose case is yet to be seen." Again,
in his "Account of birds found in Norfolk," he speaks
of having seen the ^'Ciconia, or Stork, in the fens,
and some have been shot in the marshes between this
[Norwich] and Yarmouth;" whilst Willughby, in his
"Ornithology," expresses his obligation to his "hon-
oured friend," Sir Thomas, for "a picture of one of these
birds, taken on the coast of Norfolk, drawn by the
life, with a short description of it," which specimen, in
confinement,! "readily eat frogs and land-snails, but
refused toads." Turner years before (1544) had stated
" Ciconia, ut Germanis auis est notissima, ita Britannis
meis plerisque omnibus tam ignota est, quam quae om-
nium ignotissima. Nee mirum, quum nusquam in insula
nostra nisi captiua Ciconia uideatur ;" and Jonston,
whose work 1 1 bears a figure of this bird on its frontis-

* See Wilkin's Ed. of Sir Thomas Browne's works, vol. i., p. 398.

t " Pinax Eerum Naturalium Britannicarum." Londini :
MDCLXVII., p. 181.

J The following occurs in the "Extracts from Sir T. Browne's
Common Place Books " (vol. iv., p. 399), amongst other " empirical"
remedies for gout suggested for trial by the learned doctor to
some querulous friend " unsatisfied with the many rational medi-
cines." " Since you find no benefit in the noble plasters of the
Duke of Wirtemberg, of King James, and of Charles the Fifth,
try the empl. ciconice made up of stercus ciconice." We are not
told, however, whether the patient was actually supplied with this
precious ointment, from the captive stork in Sir Thomas's garden.

II "Historiae ISTaturalis de Auibvs Libri vi." Erancofurti ad
Maenum : m.d.c.l.
2 A

178 BIEDS OP NORFOLK.

piece, with the motto *^Pietas contenta lucraiur," bore
witness to the same, saying that storks **in Britannia
ignotas esse." Eay, too, in his "Synopsis" (1713),
asserts that the species " In littoribus nostris interdum
sed rarius cemitur; apud nos non nidificat" (p. 97).
Still, notwithstanding these old records, so fortu-
nately preserved to ns, I see no reason to suppose that,
as an accidental visitant, the stork was less frequently
met with on our coast, at that time, than it is now,
although fewer examples fell victims to their too con-
fiding nature, and many, most probably, passed wholly
unnoticed. It must, however, be always borne in mind
that the stork was but a stranger in the land, and not
an inhabitant as were the crane and the spoonbill.*

Going back to the commencement of the present
century, we have ample evidence of its appearance in
this county, year after year, on its migratory course, and
more recent observations entirely confirm the statement
of Messrs. Gurney and Fisher, in 1846, that, " one or
two of these birds are generally killed in Norfolk every
year, generally during the spring months, and in the
vicinity of the eastern coast." Now and then, however,
a specimen is met with far inland, either storm-driven,
or, more often, seeking in vain to escape persecution.

In Sir WiUiam Hooker's MS. I find the following
important notes, which are, in many points, confirmed
by the Messrs. Paget : — " A stork seen about Yarmouth
by Mr. Penrice and Mr. Bonfellow in the autumn of
1810 ; a pair seen at Burgh Castle during the months of
May and June, 1817, and at length shot in the beginning

* The necessity of this remark will be seen, when we turn to
the last edition of Mr. Hewitson's well-known work (ii., p. 309),
wherein, after quoting a passage from Evelyn's " Diary," he puts
upon it a meaning it does not actually bear ; for, if taken according
to Mr. Hewitson's sense, it would equally imply that eagles bred
in Norfolk, which there is no reason to believe.

WHITE STORK. 179

of July ; anotlier before that time sliot at Caister,* and
one killed in Norfolk, May 6tli, 1818, now in the
possession of Mr. J. Hunt, of Norwich, "f Of more
recent date, there is a record in Mr. Lombe's notes, of
one killed near Holt, in 1836 ; Mr. Lubbock mentions
one killed at Wretham; in 1838, and an adult bird in the
Norwich Museum (No. 211a) was shot near Yarmouth,
in 1842. Of this latter specimen, I find the following
interesting description in the " Zoologist " for 1843, (p.
182), from the pen of Mr. W. R. Fisher (then residing
at Yarmouth) : — " As I was walking on the beach, on
the morning of the 10th of May last, I observed a bird
of this species coming over from seawards. When it
first came over the shore, it was flying so low that I
could plainly distinguish its long legs stretched out
behind, like those of the heron, the black bar across the
wings, formed by the quill feathers and wing coverts,
contrasting strongly with the pure white of the rest
of the plumage. I watched it for some minutes, as
after taking two or three turns over the houses, it
slowly soared to an immense height, and then went
steadily off in a south-westerly direction. It was shot
the next day about six miles from Yarmouth." At
Halvergate, as Mr. Fisher subsequently informed Mr.
Yarrell. In Mr. Dowell's notes I find two records of
storks observed at Salthouse, one purchased by Mr. J.
H. Gurney several years ago, but not now in his collec-
tion (though he still possesses a more recent specimen
killed on Breydon) ; and another seen in the Cley

* These are probably the same birds thus noticed by Messrs.
Sheppard and Whitear ra 1824. "A few years since a pair of
white storks were seen at Gorleston, and one of them was killed.
Another pair was observed at Acle in the month of June, 1817;
and about the same time a female of this species was killed near
Burgh Castle ; and another in the month of November following."

t Probably the one recorded in his List as killed at Cantley.
2-A2

180 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

marslies, in the summer of 1849, within shot of the
Salthouse bank.

On the 7th of June, 1848, an adult female, now in
the possession of the Rev. H. T. Frere, of Burston, was
shot on Breydon, as noticed by Messrs. Gurney and
Msher in the "Zoologist" (p. 2291). In 1852 Mr. L.
H. Irby recorded in the same journal (p. 3476) the
occurrence of an adult male on Breydon, about the 15th
of March (now in Major Irby's possession) ; and in
February of the same year an immature specimen also,
killed near Yarmouth, was sent up to Norwich for
preservation. This bird had evidently received a pre-
vious wound from the effects of which it had been
gradually wasting, and was thus happily destroyed."^
A second example in the Norwich Museum (No. 211), in
adult plumage, was procured at Brooke, near Norwich,
in August, 1853.

On the 3rd of October, 1855, whilst travelling by
an early train on the Great Eastern Railway, I saw
one of these birds in a low meadow, at Lakenham,
near Norwich, not far from the line, and, as long as I
could observe it, perfectly undisturbed by the noise of
the passing carriages. It was standing apparently in
a little watercourse, as I could see only part of its legs,
with its head and neck thrown back, and its red beak
resting on its breast in the most perfect repose ; whilst
the marked contrast of the black wing feathers to the
pure white of the rest of the plumage was strikingly
visible in the bright morning sun.

On the 14th of September, 1856, a very fine stork
was seen on the farm of Mr. Sewell, of North Pick-
enham, near Swaffham, from whence it flew into some
low grounds belonging to Mr. R. Hall Say. Mr. Say's

* These are the two specimens recorded by mistake in Morris's
" British Birds" (vol. iv., p. 152), as killed in 1851.

WHITE 8T0EK. 181

keeper went in pursuit and succeeded in shooting it in
a long plantation belonging to that gentleman.

In 1858 a fine specimen now in the collection of the
Rev. C. J. Lucas, and formerly in that of Mr. A. F.
Sealy, was shot at Yarmouth, and was purchased by
the latter gentleman in the flesh.

On the 29th of November, 1860, an adult female
was killed at HickHng, which, like the one in 1852, had
suffered greatly from a previous wound, as shown by
its soiled plumage and poor condition.

About the 17th of May, 1861, an adult female was
shot on the late Mr. Cator's estate, at Woodbastwick,
and is still, I believe, preserved at the hall. This bird
contained an egg quite ready for exclusion, which was
only slightly cracked on one side by the fall of the
bird.

And last in the list to the present time is an adult
bird, in Mr. Overend's collection at Yarmouth, which,
as stated in the "Field" (vol. xxv., p. 384), was killed
on the 24th of May, 1865, in some marshes at Oby,
about seven miles from the coast.

A glance at the dates of these specimens, where such
records exist, shows not only the singular regularity
with which the stork appears on our coast, but, as
before stated^ that by far the larger number are met
with during the spring and summer ; and, it is difficult
to account for the fact of their never having bred with
Tis, even in former times, when, as we know from the
evidence already cited, they were but rarely killed.
The pair killed in the Burgh marshes in 1817, were
certainly reluctant enough to quit our shores, having
been observed through May and June, and not shot
tni July; and the Woodbastwick bird, found heavy
with egg on the 17th of May, 1861, had previously, no
doubt, been separated from its mate. As a species,
however, proverbial for the regularity of their migra-

182 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

tory movementSj* we can scarcely wonder if slightly
deviating from their ordinary course, stragglers should
alight, year after year, on our eastern coast, so similar
in many respects to their summer haunts on the opposite
shores of Holland. But here, unhappily, instead of
wooden boxes being erected in our towns and villages
for their nesting accommodation, the only box provided
is the birdstuffer's case, wherein the victim of misplaced
confidence inevitably finds its last home.

CICONIA NIGRA (Linnaeus).
BLACK STORK.

If the American bittern at present holds no place
in our Norfolk list, I am able to include for the first
time a not less interesting species in the Black Stork,
an extremely rare and accidental visitant to this
country.f On the 20th of May, 1867, I received a

* " Tea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appomted times ;
and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of
their coming." — Jeremiah viii., 7.

f Yarrell enumerates only four specimens killed in any part
of Great Britain — namely, Colonel Montagu's bird on West Sedge
Moor, Somersetshire, May 13th, 1814; one on the Tamar, in
Devonshire, November, 1831 ; one at Otley, near Ipswich,
Suffolk, October, 1832 ; and one on the south side of Poole harbour,
November 22nd, 1839. In addition to these Mr. A. Newton also
informs me that Mr. Thornhill, of Riddlesworth, possesses a very
fine specimen, which he obtained in the flesh more than twenty
years since, of a labourer who had just shot it on some property
of his own in Romney Marsh; and in Mr. J. H. Gurney's collec-
tion is a specimen purchased by him at Poole some years ago,
which has a memorandum inside the case in which it was then
mounted, to the effect that it had been killed at Poole in 1849 ; just
ten years later than the one, before mentioned, from the same
locality.

BLACK STORK. 183

letter from Mr. Anthony Hamond, jun., informing me
that a fine black stork had been shot by one of the
gamekeepers in some meadows on the banks of the
river Nar, at Westacre, about half-past four in the
morning of the 19th.^ The bird, it seems, had been
observed about the same locality on several occasions
for more than a week, but had hitherto kept weU out
of shot, and only on the day previous to its death,
Mr. Hamond and myself had been watching a pair of
gadwalls in the Nar, scarcely a quarter of a mUe from
the spot where the stork was kiUed. It proved on
dissection to be an adult female, weighing over seven
pounds, and measured, I am told, six feet two inches
from tip to tip of wings. Its plumage showed no signs
of having been in confinement, and, owing to its extreme
shyness, it was even at last obtained with much diffi-
culty. This noble specimen now forms part of the fine
collection of birds at Westacre High-house.

Although the first time that this species has been
known to be killed in this county, it is probable that
others may have visited our coast, and either escaped
injury or passed wholly unnoticed. Thus, in Mr.
Joseph Clarke's MS. notes on rare birds at Yarmouth
and other parts of the county, I find the following
under the head of Ciconia nigra, " Three were followed
in Norfolk for some days in the year 1823; and in
1832 one was killed in Suffolk, at Grundisburgh, and
was in the possession of a surgeon, a Mr. Ditton, of
that place." The latter is no doubt the bird mentioned
by YarreU as kiUed at Otley, near Ipswich.

* This bird was recorded at the time in the "Ibis," 1867, p.
382; " Zoologist," B. s., p. 872 ; and in "Land and Water," vol. iv.,
p. 26.

184 BIKDS OP NORFOLK.

PLATALEA LEUCORODIA, Linnseus.

WHITE SPOONBILL.

But for tlie most trustworthy records of Sir Thomas
Browne, it would scarcely have been credited at the
present time, that this remarkable species was for-
merly a resident in East Anglia. This important fact,
however, is preserved to ns in the following passage
from Sir Thomas' notes on the " Birds of Norfolk,"
" The Platea or Shovelard,* which build upon the tops
of high trees. They formerly built in the hernery at
Claxtonf and Reedham ; now at Trimley, in Suffolk.
They come in March, and are shot by fowlers, not for
their meat, but for the handsomeness of the same ;
remarkable in their white colour, copped crown, and
spoon or spatule like bill." From so minute a descrip-
tion of the species, there can be no doubt as to its
identity, but even at that time (1688) it seems, through
the persecution of the fowlers, they had ceased to breed
in Norfolk, though still found at Trimley, in Suffolk,
the "handsomeness" of their plumage rendering their
destruction as certain as in more modern times. Pen-
nant, whose most elaborate account of the spoonbill.

* There is no doubt, as suggested by Mr. Lubbock, that the
terms shovelard, sholarde, and shoveller, met with in the "House-
hold Books" and other early records of birds procured for cuHnary
purposes, referred to this species and not, as supposed by some,
to the shoveller duck (Anas clypeata), even though the latter is
specially noticed by Sir Thomas Browne as "Anas platyrhinchus,
a remarkably broad-billed duck." In the Northumberland "House-
hold Book" we find the following entry : — " Sholardes to be hadde
for my Lordes owne Mees at Pryncypall Feestes, and to be at
vid. a pece," being half the then price of bitterns and curlews.

f Seven and a-half miles from Norwich, near Buckenham
Ferry, on the river Yare ; and Keedham, nine miles from Yar-
mouth on the same stream.

WHITE SPOONBILL. 185

was taken from a freshly killed specimen, sent him from
Yarmouth by the late Mr. Joseph Sparshall, states in
the " Appendix " to his " British Zoology" that " a
flock of these birds migrated into the marshes, near
Yarmouth, in Norfolk, in April, 1774," but since that
time, although an annual visitant to our shores, on its
migratory passage, it has appeared only in pairs, or at
most three or four at one time. According to Messrs.
Sheppard and Whitear, *' a pair were seen at Cromer,
in June, 1818 ; and one was killed at Yarmouth in the
month of May of the same year." In 1829, Mr. Hunt
remarks in his list, " In the course of the last five or six
years, seven or eight of these birds have been killed
at Caister and Burgh, in the neighbourhood of Yar-
mouth, one of which is in the Norwich Museum'^ and
another in the possession of Mr. J. J. Gurney." Mr.
Selby, also, in his " British Ornithology," states that
when in London, in May, 1830, he obtained a male and
female in fine adult plumage from Norfolk, this recently
killed male being the one represented of the size of life
in his work.

In Sir William Hooker's MS. one is said to have
been taken alive on Salthouse broad. May 21st, 1831 ;
three more on Breydon, in June, 1834; and an adult
bird in the Norwich Museum,t is stated to have been
killed at Salthouse, in 1838. Mr. J. H. Gurney 's collec-
tion contains three spoonbills in one case, two of which,
in immature plumage, were shot together near Yar-
mouth; and the third, an adult male, was purchased
in the Norwich Market prior to 1846, being the one
referred to by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher in the

* Probably the specimen (No. 213b) still preserved, as a
skeleton, and marked "Adult, Norfolk."

t No. 213 in tlie Museum collection, marked "Male adiilt,
September, 1838."
2b

186 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

"Zoologist" (p. 1322) as falling short in all its measure-
ments of tlie ■usual size of the species, attributable, no
doubt, to "an old fracture of the thigh bone, which
was discovered when the bird was dissected for preser-
vation."

Of more recent instances, the following comprise,
I have no doubt, a large proportion of the specimens
either observed or procured in this county.

1845. Two old males killed at Salthouse, as recorded
by Mr. Dowell.

1847. May 2nd. A fine old male killed on the
Bure, near Yarmouth ; another, also a male, but in im-
mature plumage, was shot on the 19th, at Salthouse
("Zoologist," p. 1785). In Mr. Dowell's notes two are
also stated to have frequented the Blakeney coast for
some weeks towards the end of August ; and on October
27th, a fine female, in Mr. Dowell's possession, was
killed at Salthouse, having been previously seen for
some days about Blakeney harbour.

1848. February 11th. Mr. Dowell records one as
- taken in the Langham decoy ; and on the 15th of

November a female was brought to him in the flesh,
having been seen in company with another at Salthouse.
It had been previously wounded in the leg, and was
then too much injured for preservation. " This bird is
said to have resorted, at intervals, to a marsh at that
place for nearly a month previous to its capture."
("Zoologist," p. 1966).

1849. June. A male killed near Yarmouth, as
recorded by Mr. Gurney in the ^' Zoologist" (p. 2499) ;
and another at Salthouse in the same year, in the
Dennis collection, at Bury.

1850. June 18th. An adult male at Breydon, also
in the Bury Museum.

1852. Mr. Dowell informs me that in this year
throughout March and part of April a pair of spoon-

WHITE SPOONBILL. 187

bills frequented the lake at Holkham, and being
unmolested. Lord Leicester on one occasion walked
close up to tliem.

1853-4. Somewhere about this date a specimen in
Mr. Newcome's collection, at Feltwell, was procured in
Hockwold fen.

1855. May 14th. A fine old male kiUed at Stiflfkey,
near Wells.

1859. May 4th. A male in very perfect plumage
shot at Hickling. The long crest of this bird was bufiy-
white and a rich broad band of buff- colour extended
across the breast and formed a collar, as it were, round
the lower part of the neck, which was deepest in colour
near the points of the wings. The under parts were
also faintly marked with buff on the tips of the
feathers. I saw this specimen in the flesh, and was
struck with the richness of its colouring, but on seeing
it again a week or so later, the buff tints had almost
faded away, and I doubt not after a time would be
scarcely perceptible.

1860. July 6th. One shot on Breydon ; sex not noted.

1862. May. A female in Captain Longe's collec-
tion, shot on Breydon ; and a male from the same
locality, in that month, was sent up to Leadenhall
Market with greenshanks and turnstones.

1863. May 15th. A young female in pure white
plumage and scarcely any crest, was shot at Hickhng.

Early in the same month two or three were also ■
seen on Breydon ; and a magnificent pair were killed
at one shot between Lowestoft and Southwold, in
Suffolk,* on the 1st of May, which were preserved by

* Dui'ing the last four or five years Mr. Fenwick Hele has
recorded the occurrence of this species almost every spring at
Aldeburgh and Thorpe Mere, on the Suffolk coast, Yide " Field "
(June 25th, 1864, p. 443; July 28th, 1866, p. 81 ; and July 13th,
1867, p. 31).
2b2

188 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

the late Jolin Sayer, of Norwich, for Mr. Maurice
Johnson, of Benacre Hall.

1864. October 25th. An immature specimen, killed
at Hickling, was presented to the Norwich Museum
(No. 213a). The sex of this bird was not noted at the
time, but the irides were light grey, not red as in adult
birds.

About the same date the Rev. C. J. Lucas, when
snipe shooting at Burgh, fired at a spoonbill, which
flew wounded in the direction of Yarmouth. On
sending to Yarmouth the same evening, he learnt that
a spoonbill had just been shot in that neighbourhood,
most probably the same bird, which he purchased for
his collection, an immature female.

1865. May 23rd. A pair shot on Breydon, which
are now in Mr. J. Tomlinson's collection at Yarmouth.

A fine bird in the possession of Mr. H. M. Upcher,
of Sherringham, was also killed during the spring of
this year at Sandringham, near Lynn.

1866. May 2nd. A fine old male which had been
seen on Breydon for nearly a fortnight, was shot,
and one or two others were seen about the same time.
This bird, in the collection of the Rev. C. J. Lucas,
of Burgh, had a rich band of buff-colour on the breast,
but the crest was not much developed ; irides carmine-
red. The throat contained three or four three-spined
sticklebacks,* quite perfect, and the stomach was filled
with the remains of others mixed with sand and silt
from its feeding grounds. A bird recorded by Messrs.
Sheppard and Whitear had the remains of shrimps in
its stomach.

* These were forwarded by Mr. T. E. Gunn, of this city, to
Dr, Gray, of the British Museum, who identified them as the
rare smooth tailed species, or variety, (Gasterostezis leiurusj . See
" Zoologist " for 1866, p. 348.

WHITE SPOONBILL. 189

May 20tli. Abqjit this date a single individual was
observed for some days on Hickling broad, and was
probably the bird killed on the lOth of June, at the
same place, which came into the possession of Mr.
F. Norgate, of Sparham, and proved to be a young
male.

1867. Three or four were seen in the spring about
Burgh-flats, but none shot that I could ascertain.

1868. May 4th. Two males shot at Yarmouth;
one weighed four pounds, and was darker in plumage
than the other, not having perfected its moult, but it
had the longer crest of the two. The other, now in my
collection, weighed three pounds and a-half. In both
the eyes were carmine-red, and they had a yellowish tinge
across the breast. In one the stomach was empty with
the exception of soft silty matter, the other was filled
vidth the remains of shrimps, and scales of small fish
and sand. A much older bird in Mr. Overend's collec-
tion, at Yarmouth, was killed on Breydon about the
same time.

From an examination of the above list of specimens
it will be seen that the spoonbill is chiefly a spring
and summer visitant to this county, since of those, of
which the date of occurrence is known, only eight have
appeared towards the latter part of the year, two in
August, one in September, three in October, and two
in November.^ The remainder in February (one),
March and April (two). May (eighteen), June (ten), and
one in July, whilst the large flock at Yarmouth, in
1774, is said to have amved in April. The majority

* By Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear this species is said to have
appeared near Yarmouth, " generally during the winter season ;"
and Colonel Montagu speaks of the occasional appearance of the
spoonbill in winter, in the south of England, and in his supple-
ment records the occurrence of a young bird, near King's Bridge,
South Devon, in November, 1804.

190 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

of specimens obtained are decidedly in immature
plumage.

Unlike the stork tlie spoonbill, though similarly per-
secuted, does not often betake itself far inland, relying
mainly for subsistence on the daily renewed feast, afforded
by the ebb and flow of our tidal waters ; and hence the
large proportion of them that are seen and procured on
Breydon. The Salthouse marshes, until their drainage
and embankment in 1851, were also a most favourite
resort of the spoonbill, as well as of the avocet, a some-
what similar feeder,* but this spot is no longer adapted
to their habits. An occasional straggler or two may
be seen, however, along the flat shores of the wash;
and Hickling, near Yarmouth, appears to be the only
broad that has special attractions for this singular
species.

* In the " Zoologist " for 1843 (pp. 226, 227), in his " Notes
on the Birds of Sussex," Mr. A. E. Knox describes the mode of
feeding of the spoonbill from certain facts supplied him by Mr.
A. T. Dodd, of Chichester. The latter gentleman, it appears,
had received a specimen recently killed in that neighbourhood
from " an intelligent person of whose accuracy of observation he
entertained no doubt," and the mode adopted by the bird was
described as that of " ploughing the soft sand or mud from side
to side with its bill, to the depth of about a quarter of an inch, by
which he supposed it collected small marine insects and worms,
while it continued to work the bill all the time, precisely like a
duck." The following note, also, on this subject, from observa-
tions made in Hungary by Major Thomas Walker, of Wexford, is
given by Thompson in his "Birds of Ireland" (vol. ii., p. 180).
" The motions of the spoonbill are singular, when a number are
standing in a line on the edge of a stream, they keep streaking
the bill sideways through the water, and the movement is simul-
taneous ; all the bills being directed up the stream at once, and
all down it at the same time."

GLOSSY IBIS. 191

IBIS FALCINELLUS (Gmel.)
GLOSSY IBIS.

Mr. Lubbock, in 1845, tbus wrote of this rare species,
'^ Fifty years back it was seen often enough to be
known to gunners and fishermen as the black curlew,"^"
but now a straggler or two at long and uncertain
intervals is an important event in local ornithology, and
the bird itself, if procured, a coveted possession by all
local collectors. In the various stages of plumage,
however, to which the terms glossy, bay, and green have
been applied by authors, this Ibis has been killed in
Norfolk in many well-authenticated instances, the first
of which I can find any exact record being the bird
stated by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear to have
been seen by them, and "shot in the winter of 1818,
in the marshes on the western coast of Norfolk, near
Lynn ;" adding, moreover, " that it did not appear to
have attained its full plumage, from the circumstance
of its having four transverse bars of white on its
throat." From the same authors we also learn that " in
the month of May, 1822, three birds of this species
were seen at Hockwold [fen], in Norfolk." Two of
them were killed, and are in the possession of the
Rev. Henry TUney, of that place." One of these, in
adult plumage, is now in Mr. Newcome's collection, at
FeltweU, from whom I recently ascertained that the
other (both having been shot by Mr. Tilney), was,
unfortunately, not preserved. The last two are also
noticed in Mr. Lombe's MS. notes, as killed in June,
not May, which is, I believe, correct. Next in point of
date, are the pair recorded by the Messrs. Paget as

* Under this name it is possibly the species meant in the old
adage —

" The curlew be she white or black,
Carries twelve-pence on her back."

192 • BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

*' shot at the mouth of the Norwich river, September
13th, 1824,"'^ which came into the possession of Mr.
J. J. Gurney, of Earlham ;t and had " four more in
company with them." These, in Sir W. Hooker's MS.,
are said to have been male and female, the former
weighing one pound and a-half, the latter one pound
two ounces. The length of the male from the tip of the
beak to the end of the toes was thirty inches, of the
female twenty- six inches, and from tip to tip of wings,
the former measured forty inches, and the bill was five
inches long.

In January, 1825, according to Mr. Lombe's MS.
notes, two more, male and female, were killed at
Yarmouth, and may possibly be the pair which are
still preserved in his fine collection at Wymondham.

In Mr. Hunt's List, published in 1829, a single
specimen, killed near Cromer, in Mr. Norman's collec-
tion, is said to have been " sold to him under the name
of the "black curlew," which fully corroborates Mr.
Lubbock's statement as to the name commonly applied
to this species.

Again, in October, 1833, according to Mr. Lombe, a
single specimen was killed near Norwich, which is also
mentioned in Mr. Joseph Clarke's MS. notes, the latter,
moreover, stating that the two which formed part of
the late Mr. Miller's Yarmouth collection were procured
near that town in 1832. J Strangely enough from that
time, until the year 1850, I know of no instance of this
species appearing on our eastern coast, but on the 27th
of May of that year, as recorded by Mr. J. H. Gurney in

* ITo doubt, tlie pair recorded by Mr. Youell in the " Linnean
Transactions" (vol. xiv., p. 688), as killed at Yarmouth in
October, 1824.

t Now in Mr. J. H. Gurney's collection.

+
+

Mr. Miller's collection in 1853.

GLOSSY IBIS. 193

the "Zoologist" (p. 2879), "a very beautiful adult
specimen was sliot on Blundeston marsh, near Lowes-
toft. The bird was a female, but the ova were not
larger than small peas."

Again after an interval of just eight years, I
ascertained through Mr. Eising, of Horsey, that an ibis
had been seen, but not procured, in the vicinity of
Yarmouth, early in the month of January, 1868 ; and
on the 13th of September of that year, the last that has
been recognised in this county was killed at Stalham.
This bird, which is now in the possession of Mr. Silcock
of that place, proved to be a female, apparently in the
plumage to which the term " glossy " has been usually
applied. The head and upper parts of the neck are
light reddish-brown streaked with white, some of the
feathers being white at the tips, and others white only
along the outer edge of the web on either side with
the tips brown. The lower part of breast, and under
plumage generally, is reddish-brown, with green and
purple feathers intermixed, the latter chiefly on the
flanks. The back is glossed with purple and green
reflections. Scapulars, wing-coverts, and quill-feathers,
bright glossy-green, having a bronzed hue, the latter
deepest in colour, as also the tail-feathers. The
primaries darker in colour than the secondaries.
Weight one pound six ounces ; total length twenty-
five and a-half inches; extent of wings forty-two and
a-half inches ; from the carpal joint to the end of
longest quill (second) twelve inches ; bill, following the
curve of upper mandible, five and three-quarter inches ;
tail four and a-half inches ; bare portion of tibia, two
and three-quarter inches ; tarsus four and a-half inches ;
middle toe and claw three inches and three-eighths ;
hind toe and claw one inch and three-quarters ; inner
toe two inches and three-quarters ; outer toe two inches
and seven-eighths. The stomach was empty with the
exception of one minute shell of the periwinkle.
2c

194 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

As shown by the measiirements and descriptions
given by Montagu in his "Supplement" these birds vary
much both in size and colouring, the females being
somewhat smaller than the males, and in their imma-
ture stages showing more white about the head and
neck.

NXTMENIUS ARQUATA (Linn»us).

COMMON CUELEW.

The Curlew is another of those grallatorial species
which, although observed on our coast during every
month of the year, has never been known to nest
in this county. Further north* it breeds in April and
May, but throughout the latter month I have remarked
them at Hunstanton, and have heard their loud
whistle in June, when out at sea, and seen strag-
glers at the same date both at Cromer and Salthouse.
Yet, though such may be considered as exceptional
cases, the bulk of those which annually visit us in
autumn and winter are absent only for a very short
period. By the 1st of July Mr. Dowell has known
them arrive at Blakeney in some numbers, and has
seen them there in flocks of forty or fifty by the end of

* In Mr. A. G. More's paper " on the distribution of Birds in
Great Britain during the nesting season " (" Ibis," 1865, p. 434),
the curlew is described as " rare in the south during summer,
though a few pairs are recorded as breeding in Cornwall and
Devonshire." Its breeding in Dorset and Wiltshire is considered
doubtful, the stone curlew (CEdicnennus crepitans) being probably
mistaken for it in those counties, but " further north there are one
or two breeding stations in Shropshire, and Mr. 0. Salvin finds
its nest in Derbyshire." We also learn from the same authority
that "the curlew breeds in North and South Wales, and from
Yorkshire northwards, extending as far north as the Shetland
Islands."

COMMON CUELEW. 195

that montli. Between tlie 25th and 30tli of July, I
have also watched small parties flying low over the sea
at Cromer, keeping steadily on in a south-westerly
direction, but rarely exceeding six in number, as if
young and old together. Later still in the autumn,
their migratory movements are evidenced by their
cries, as, (attendant on, or mingling with, large flocks
of golden and green plover,"^ redshanks, &c.), they
pass over our towns and cities by night, attracted and
bewildered by the glare of the lamps ; chance stragglers,
also, when thus calling to their mates, will frequently
answer to a whistle in imitation of their notes. In like
manner attracted by our light-houses and light-ships on
the coast, they are heard, at times, flying round and
round for hours, but as far as I can ascertain are never
known to "strike the glasses," as is the case with
many other species. f In winter during hard weather
their numbers are greatly increased from the north,
most of which continue their course southward should
the frost continue, but even in the sharpest weather
I have seen them on Breydon in considerable num-
bers, and the gunners are not slow to take advantage
of their miserable plight when tamed by cold and
hunger. As a rule, however, the curlew is a most difficult
species to approach, especially when feeding in large
bodies, and their loud warning cries alarm many other
birds that might otherwise afibrd a shot. Even in a
punt, as Mr. Dowell remarks, it is not easy to get
within range of them, " as they usually sit some short
way from the water, and their height enables them to

* See antea, pp. 71-76.

t This fact was particularly mentioned to me by a very intel-
ligent watchman, at Lowestoft High-light, who had been formerly
at Orford-ness, and who, from a personal interest in the subject,
aflForded me much information.
2c 2

196 BIEDS OF NORFOLK.

see into the boat." Single birds may be occasionally
decoyed witbin sbot of a bank or other ambush, by
skillful whistling ;'^ but in companies, as Mr. Lubbock
states, " they are deaf to the call."

Though always plentiful on the Breydon muds, this
species is met with in still larger numbers at Blakeney,
and thence, westward, along the flat shores of the
Wash to Lynn may be termed their chief stronghold '
in Norfolk. In the spring of 1863, I found them very
plentiful at Hunstanton, though almost unapproachable
on those level sands, but their daily visits to the
mussel-scalps, with that marvellous punctuality observ-
able in sach species as regularly frequent the sea coast,
proved a constant source of amusement. Scarcely was
the thin black line visible above the waves, which
marked the outline of a large submerged mussel-
bed, than curlews and sea-gulls appeared in the
distance, the former in small detachments and in Indian
file, slowly flapping over the waters to their expected
feast, which their long legs and bUls enabled them to
commence at once, not waiting, like the hovering
sea-gulls for a drier surface. First to arrive they
were also the last of their kind to quit their feeding
grounds, seeking the highest spots as the tide rose,
and taking wing only when the "scalps" were barely

* Mr. W. H. Power, in the " Zoologist " for 1866 (p. 124), gives
a singular account of the means by which the fishermen and " mud-
diggers," at Rainham, in Kent, decoy curlew within shot. A trained
dog, as much like a fox as possible, is employed to attract the
birds, whilst the man hides in a "dyke," and when the birds
attack and chase him, the dog gradually approaches his master's
hiding place, when sometimes two or three shots are obtained
(provided the gunner keeps concealed), so engrossed are the
curlews with the actions of the dog ; but both this plan and the
" curlew whistle" fail to attract them in parties of more than four
or five.

COMMON CURLEW. 197

visible when, uttering their loud cry of " cour-lieu,"
" cour-Heu "^ — a sound, however wild and shrill, not
less grateful to the ear on a bleak range of ooze or
shingle, than on some scarcely less desolate moorland —
they would betake themselves once more to their inland
haunt.

The great difference of size in individuals of this
species must have attracted the notice of every natu-
ralist and sportsman, but whether a matter of sex or
of age, appears still a matter of doubt. f I am sorry
that I cannot here say anything positive on this point,
not having had the opportunity of dissecting a suffi-
cient number of large and small specimens, J but
supposing the largest to be really females, the males
look more like whimbrels in comparison with their more
than "better halves." Mr. Lubbock, in reference to
this point, remarks that these large birds, from their

* Mr. Harting, in his " Birds of Middlesex," gives two other
notes from his observation of this species, " wha-up" and in the
spring "whee-ou, whee-ou," the latter I have frequently dis-
tinguished.

t In Meyer's " British Birds," (vol. 4, p. 196) the female is thus
described " Larger than the male, her colouring is more tinged with
ash, and her legs brown. The yoimg are smaller according to age,
and their beaks also shorter and by far less curved." The legs
of the adult male he describes as "bluish-ash colour," Degland
also, in his " Ornithologie Europienne " (vol. 2. p. 166), gives a
very similar statement.

X A fine bird in my own collection (sex not known) has the
bill five inches and five-eighths, total length from tip of beak
to end of tail feathers twenty-five inches (when stuffed) ; tarsus
three inches and five-eighths ; and weighed two pounds three
ounces and a-half. Another specimen, ascertained by dissection
to be a female, has the bill five inches and four-eighths; total
length from beak to tail twenty-four inches and three-eighths;
tarsus three inches and four-eighths. The stomach contained only
portions of the claws of minute Crustacea.

198 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

appearance in the marshes about harvest time, are
known to the gunners as the " great harvest curlews,"
and suggests that they are " probably old females col-
lected together after the breeding season." These he
describes as "the most clamorous," and, when flying
singly, as answering most readily to the whistle. On
the other hand, both Folkard and my friend Mr.
Harting, are inclined to believe that the difference in
size is merely a matter of age, but having recently
ascertained beyond a doubt that the very marked dif-
ference in size in specimens of the bar-tailed godwit,
is purely sexual (the females being the largest), I
cannot help thinking that future observations wiU
prove that the same rule applies to the greater and
lesser curlews.

Some thirty years ago, as Mr. Thomas Edwards in-
forms me, these "great harvest curlews" used regularly
to come up from the sea in August, to feed on the
'^Ollands," at Hempstead, near Holt, numbering at
times some thirty or forty in a " herd," when many of
them were shot ; but according to Folkard those killed
'^far inland, in ploughed fields and fresh water meadows,
are not so palatable" as the birds shot on the ooze or in
salt marshes; and Mr. Lubbock speaks of their excel-
lence when procured in the marshes, as compared with
their rank flavour after feeding on the sea-shore. Of
their estimation in former times as a delicacy for the
table we have ample testimony. In the L'Estrange
" Household Book " we find no less than seven entries
relating to this species ; in one instance a pair are
received as a present ; in another, two are received of
"gyste" (in lieu of rent.) Single curlews are pur-
chased at from four pence to five pence each, and on
one occasion three fetched, in Snettisham Market, two
shillings (the then price of a fat sheep), whilst at the same
time three woodcocks were procured for sixpence. The

WHIMBREL. 199

most startling fact, however, for modern housekeepers
appears as follows, in the year 1519 : — " Itm pd for a
goos v^-» a Pygge iiij<i' ij Curlews xij<i-"

In the Lord North Accounts we also read, " Kyrlewes
to be hadde for my Lordes owne Mees at Pryncipall
Feestes, and to be at xij<i- a pece."

A curlew, with white primary quills, was seen by
Mr. Dowell, at Blakeney, in January, 1854.

NUMENITJS PHJEOPUS (LinnKus.)

WHIMBEEL.

The Whimbrel visits us regularly in spring and
autumn, on its passage to and from its breeding
grounds, and though a few may be seen occasionally
in March and April, the appearance of the main body
in May, on the Breydon and Blakeney muds, is so
invariable that this species is always spoken of as the
" May bird " by the gunners in both localities. Their
numbers, as with all migratory shore-birds, vary much
in different seasons, but at times they are very plenti-
ful,* as was particularly the case in the spring of 1863.
Of these the chief portion pass on to the northward after
a few days, but small parties may be seen on different
parts of the coast up to the middle of June, and even
as late as July. At Hunstanton in 1863, I found one
or two small flocks frequenting the mussel-scalps up to
the second week in June ; and Mr. Dowell has observed

* In the "Zoologist" for 1867 (p. 293), Mr. Cordeaux states
that a flock of at least two hundred appeared in the Humber
district, about the 3rd of May ; and on the 13th of May, 1868
(" Zoologist," p. 1283), he counted up to sixty-one, in one flock ;
and saw another containing not less than double that number.

200 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

them at Blakeney in two or three different seasons,
between the 25th and 30th of July, "not paired off,
but keeping together in ^ herds ' of from eight to ten/'
most probably birds which would neither breed here nor
elsewhere during that summer. By the end of August
or beginning of September, old and young together,
have again commenced their southward journey, but
the numbers then seen are but few in comparison with
the spring flight.^ In Mr. Dowell's notes I find no
record of this bird having been observed by him at
Blakeney later than the first week in October ; and Mr.
F. Frere describes them as always scarce in autumn on
Breydon, and rarely, if ever, seen during the winter
months.

As in the case of the curlew, the north-western
portion of our coast from Blakeney to Lynn, with its
flat sandy shores and small tidal channels, has most
attractions for the whimbrel, although Breydon for
similar reasons is a favourite resort, and examples
have been killed occasionally in the south-western
district about Feltwell and Hockwold. Mr. Lubbock
speaks of this species as having been occasionally very
numerous at Horsey, visiting the marshes in consid-
erable flocks in April and May ; and in describing the
habits of the birds, he says "they are far more easy
of access than the curlews, and when disturbed make
shorter flights, removing only from one marsh to
another, instead of rising high in the air and forsaking
the district altogether as the curlew generally does.
They have a clattering confused cry in flight, which

* Mr. Cordeaux ("Zoologist," 1866, p. 294) remarks the same
thing in Lincolnshire, where, in August and September, the whim-
brel are seen in small parties passing over head at a considerable
height, constantly repeating their call note, and flying in a south
or south-westerly direction.

WHIMBBEL. 201

baffles any imitation by the human voice." This cry,
however, according to Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear,
resembles the sounds " Weddy, tetty, tetty, tetty, tet"
quickly repeated. Mr. Cordeaux also (" Zoologist," s. s.,
p. 1283) states, from his observations in Lincolnshire,
that they are "far more a land bird than the curlew,
feeding almost exclusively in our marshes, retiring
occasionally to the flats to rest and bathe ;" being
particularly fond of washing and splashing the water
over their plumage with their wings.

Whimbrels as well as curlews differ much in size,
which, if a sexual distinction in the one, is the same
no doubt, in both, and from the general similarity of
the two species in other respects the whimbrel is
provincially known by the name of the " half-curlew."

Mr, Fenwick Hele, of Aldeburgh, who foiind the
whimbrel very abundant on that part of the Suffolk
coast in May, 1867 (" Field," vol. xxix., p. 389), states
that he observed amongst them a light cream-coloured
specimen.

In my account of the common house-sparrow, in
the first volume of this work, I ventured to assert that
the late Bishop Stanley, in his "Familiar History
of Birds," was in error in supposing that the term
spowes, so frequently occurring in the " Household and
Privy Purse Accounts" of the L'Estrange's of Hun-
stanton, referred to the sparrow,* although in one

* A correspondent in " The East Anglian" (vol. iii., p. 266) signing
himself "Alpha," in commenting upon some editorial remarks
founded upon my reference to the " spowe," in the first volume of
this work, quotes the following passage (to prove that the sparrow
was " a recognised article of food long anterior to the date of the
Hunstanton Household Book"), from the " Boke of Nurture,"
written by John Eussell, Usher and Marshall to "good Duke
Homphrey, of Gloucester," between 1404 and 1447, as recently
2d

202 BIEDS OP NORFOLK.

instance where the word " sparrouse " occurs — namely,
"Itm xij sparronse of gyste" (articles given in lieu of
rent), no doubt Passer domesticus was really intended,
inasmuch as at that time, and in that sterile portion
of the county, it would probably be considered a rarity
as well as a delicacy for the rich man's table. The
fact also that spowes in the L'Estrange '' Accounts "
are nearly always mentioned in connection with other
shore-birds, such as knots, ring-dotterel, redshanks,
&c.,* all easily procurable then, as now, from Hun-
stanton beach, seems to confirm the impression that
some grallatorial species was thus designated ; and
that this was no other than the whimbrelf is, I think,
sufficiently evident from the fact that in Iceland,

printed in a collection of " Tracts on Manners and Meals in Olden
Times," and edited for the English Text Society by Mr. Furnivall.

" Curlew, brew, snytes, quayles, sparowes, and martenetts
rost " are mentioned as part of the third course in the directions
for " a dynere of flesche ;" and in the " Boke of Keruynge," printed
by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1413, under the head of " serving of
flesshe," the same classification of birds occurs, " curlewe, brewe,
snytes, quayle, sparowes, and martynet." To this "Alpha" has
also appended a note by Mr. Furnivall, in which that author
suggests that "brewe" as mentioned three times in Russell's
"Boke of Nurture," is no other than the whimbrel, adding, "I
have a recollection (or what seems like it) of having seen the name
with a French form like whimfcreaw."

* " Itm iij spowes of gist."

" Itm to Mr. Vicar of Thornhm svnt in rewarde for bryngyng
of iij plovs, iij spowes, and a red shancke."

" Itm pd to ye fowler at Corbetts for iij duss and di [dozen and
a-half] of stynts, v spowes, iij whyte plovs, and ij redshanks, and
ij sedotterells."

" Item ii spowys of gyste."

f In Messrs. Gurney and Fisher's List ("Zoologist," 1846) the
Bame opinion with respect to the whimbrel is thus given, "We
have reason to believe that it is this species which is occasionally
mentioned in the 'Accounts' of the L'Estrange's of Hunstanton."

SPOTTED REDSHANK. 203

Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, the names '* spoi,"
** spou," " spof," and " spove," are respectively applied
either to this bird or the curlew, whilst the curlew
is specially and repeatedly named in the L'Estrange
accounts.

TOTANUS FUSCUS (Linnaeus).

SPOTTED REDSHANK.

Although not specified in our earlier local records,
the Spotted Redshank, no doubt, visited our coast in
former times as frequently as, and probably more nume-
rously than, it does now, but its identification, owing to
great differences in plumage (a matter of age as well as
of seasonal change), was evidently an ornithological
riddle not easily solved, and hence the numerous
synonyms,''^ attached by authors to this one species. By
Messrs. Gurney and Fisher it was accurately described
in 1846 as " not uncommon about the end of summer
and early in autumn, the specimens so occurring
being generally young birds ;" but their remark that
it is only " occasionally obtained at other periods of
the year," seems somewhat at variance with recent
experience. This, however, merely indicates, what is
observable in other migratory species, that, of late
years, their stay is less prolonged on their southward
passage, the main body passing over us altogether, and
a few stragglers only marking their autumnal move-

* Besides the name adopted by Yarrell this bird has b6en
described as the dusky sandpiper, dusky snipe, black-headed
snipe, spotted snipe, black redshank, Courland snipe, and Cam-
bridge e:odwit.
2d 2

204 BIEDS OF NORFOLK.

ments. To what cause, in particular, this may be
attributed it is difficult to say, but it is by no means
improbable that the increased persecution of ^nners
may render the old birds, when in company with their
young broods of the year, more difficult of access,
and also the fact that there is now much less ground
suitable to them, owing to improved drainage. Be
this as it may, it is evident that for the last eight or
ten years, at least, the spotted redshank has appeared
on our coast, with but few exceptions, during the vernal
migration, and consequently the majority of birds
obtained have exhibited, more or less, the distinctive
characteristics of their breeding plumage.*

Under the name of the Cambridge godwit, in Sir
W. Hooker's MS., I find the first notice of the
occurrence of this species in Norfolk, a specimen shot
near Yarmouth, on the 29th of October, 1818 ; and in
Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear's "Catalogue" (1824-5)
it is thus mentioned, " A bird of this species in autumn
plumage, was killed at Yarmouth, and preserved by
Mr. Youell. Another shot, near Ipswich, is now in
the British Museum. Mr. Wigg, of Yarmouth, has
also seen two other specimens which were shot near
that town." On the 22nd of September, 1828, Mr.
Rising, of Horsey, killed three out of a flock of twenty-
five which appeared in that neighbourhood; and in
Hunt's List, in 1829, under the name of the " spotted
snipe," one specimen is said to have been procured at

* Of the nesting habits of this species Mr. Hewitson (" British
Birds' Eggs," 3rd ed., vol. ii., p. 326), gives a most interesting
description from the pen of the late Mr. Wolley, who discovered
it in northern Lapland, breeding in the midst of the forests ; and
to quote his own words, "here is one of its most unexpected
singularities — a marsh-bird choosing the driest possible situation,
even hills of considerable height, and covered with forest timber."

SPOTTED REDSHANK. 205

Cromer, and a pair in the Norwich Museum to have
been killed at Yarmouth.*

Selby (1833) figures a young bird shot near Tar-
mouth, which was presented to him by the late Mr. H.
Girdlestone, of that town; and another Yarmouth speci-
men, in the Safiron Walden Museum, was also obtained
at Yarmouth in 1833.

On the 2nd of August, 1848, a female, shot at
Salthouse, is recorded by Messrs. Gumey and Fisher
in the " Zoologist " (p. 2292) ; and from Mr. Dowell's
notes I find that a second specimen was kiUed the
same year at Salthouse, on the 6th of September.
Mr. Upcher, of Sherringham, has an immature bird,
shot at Salthouse some few years back. Here also
must be noticed, although not seen in this county, the
occurrence of a large flock of these birds on the other
side of the "Wash," near Wisbech, in 1849, of which
Mr. T. W. Foster, of the Wisbech Museum, gives the
following interesting account in the "Zoologist" (p.
2623) : — " Eight specimens were caught in a plover net
on Guyhim Wash, on the 11th instant (October), all
of which are now in my possession ; two of the speci-
mens were undergoing the change between the summer
and winter dress ; the other six had assumed it. Upon
dissection, five of them proved to be males and three
females. A flock of twelve were seen, eleven alighted,
but in taking them out of the net, three escaped.
Pennant named this bird the Cambridge godwit,
probably from its being commonly found in that

* Neither this pair nor a specimen killed at Elveden, Suffolk,
by General Newton, somewhere between the years 1838 and 1841,
and recorded I believe, at the time, by the late Mr. Salmon, in
Loudon's magazine, are now in existence, having been unfortu-
nately destroyed by moth ; but an immature bird, in the Museum
collection (No. 218a), is marked Norfolk, although the date is not
given.

206 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

locality ; but of late years it lias become so exceed-
ingly scarce, even in its once favourite haunts, that to
my knowledge more than sixteen years have elapsed
since any were shot here."

Of more recent instances of the occurrence of this
species in Norfolk, I extract the following from my
own notes, the chief portion of the birds having been
obtained in spring late enough to have acquired their
dark nuptial plumage : —

1851. September 11th. A single bird was pro-
cured at Clenchwarton, near Lynn, as recorded in the
"Naturalist" for 1852 (p. 170) by Mr. T. Southwell.

1854. August 3rd. A female was shot at Burgh,
near Yarmouth. A pair in winter plumage in the
Dennis collection at Bury, marked " from Yarmouth,"
but with no date attached, were, I have no doubt,
obtained about this time.

1859. May 7th. A pair shot near Yarmouth.

1861. May 10th. One in full summer plumage was
shot at Yarmouth.

1862. May 2nd. A fine pair in full summer plumage
were shot near Yarmouth, with many other rarities
during the spring raigration. Of these birds Mr. F.
Harmer writes in the " Field " (vol. xix., p. 494), " one
was shot from a punt as it was feeding on the mud-
flats, on the inland tidal water near that town; the
other was shot in the marshes by the side of a dyke,
about a mile and a-half from the place where the
first bird was killed ; they were each alone, and easily
approached when shot." Another correspondent in the
same week's paper speaks of four having been seen on
Breydon at that time, of which two males and one
female were shot.

1863.'^ May. One obtained on Breydon.

* I find no notes on this species for 1864 and 1865, but in the

COMMON REDSHANK. 207

1866. May 20th. A pair in the possession of the
Rev. M. A. Mathew, of Weston Super-mare, for the
knowledge of which I am indebted to Mr. J. E. Harting-,
were killed on Breydon in full summer plumage, with
other scarce migrants.

1867. October 5th. An adult bird killed at Yar-
mouth.

TOTANUS CALIDRIS (Linnaeus).

COMMON EEDSHANK.

That the shy clamorous Eedshank should still fre-
quent our marshes during the breeding season, to be
classed as a resident as well as a migratory species, is
but another proof of the affection of these wild races
for their long accustomed haunts. Drainage and culti-
vation, by changing alike the nature and the aspect
of the soil, has more effectually banished the redshank
and the snipe, in very many localities, than years of
indiscriminate egging* had been able to accomplish,
and that such is the case was evinced in a very
remarkable manner in the great " flood" year of 1852-3,
when some thousands of acres in the " Fen " district
were laid under water, by the bursting of the river bank

latter year Mr. F. Hele, of Aldeburgh, in Suffolk, recorded in the
" Field " of September 16tli, the occurrence of a pair at Thorpe
mere, " very rare in that neighbourhood."

* Mr. Lubbock, speaking of the wholesale robbery of the lap-
wing's nests, says, " Nearly a bushel of eggs have been gathered
by two men in a morning, principally from this bird; but the
redshank, the reeve, and various terns were also put under con-
tribution, their eggs, though smaller, being equal in point of
flavour ; and being less inclined to lay again and more impatient
of the theft than the lapwing, this system of robbery did them
much more harm."

208 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

near Southery. Throughout the winter this portion
of the county, which had so suddenly re-assumed its
normal condition, was the resort of large numbers of
wild fowl, and in the following spring the redshank,
which had ceased to breed in the Hockwold and Feltwell
fens for some years, returned to nest on the borders of
the newly formed lakes,* together with the black tern
and the black-headed gull, known only by tradition as
former denizens. In that western district, prior to the
drainage of the fens, redshanks were extremely plentiful,
although their nests were constantly robbed, and the
eggs, like those of the lapwings, were sold for three-
pence apiece.

Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear in 1825, speaking
of the abundance of this species during the breeding
season in the marshes of Norfolk and Suffolk, describe
it as "more common than any other wader,*' and
such it no doubt remained for several years later,
not only in the ^' Broad " district, but along our exten-
sive seaboard, wherever the sand-hills are skirted
by salt or fresh water marshes. Some eighteen or
twenty years ago redshanks' eggs were sent regularly
every spring to the Norwich Market from Salthouse,
Blakeney, Warham, and similar localities, together with
those of the oystercatcher, ringed plover, and the

* Mr. A. Newton tells me that on the 6th of May, 1853, he was
shown a nest in Hockwold Fen, containing one egg, and that on
the same day a man took one with three eggs, at Methwold. On
the 4th of June he and his brother Edward found on the edge of
Wangford Warren (iu Suffolk), close to a mere on which the
black-headed gull used formerly to breed, an old redshank which,
from its actions, evidently had newly hatched young ones, though
these could not be discovered. On the 17th of June Mr. Edward
Newton found a nest with four much incubated eggs in Hock-
wold Fen. In none of these localities had the species been known
to breed for many years previously, nor has it done so since, so far
as these gentlemen are aware.

COMMON KEDSHANK. 209

common and lesser tern ; but, at the present time,
this species is but thinly scattered along our coast
line, a pair here and there remaining to rear their
young if happily located on preserved ground, and even
in the most favourable portions of the broads its
numbers are few indeed in comparison with former
times. I am happy to state, however, that since the
spring of 1865, from some cause for which I am
quite unable to account, I have heard of more nests at
Hiclvhng and Horsey, near Yarmouth, and amongst
that network of smaller broads that border on the
Bure and the Ant, than have been known, even in
such tempting spots, for some years. At Hoveton, in
1867, I had the pleasure of seeing several pairs on
the wing, mingling their shrill notes with the wail of
the lapwings, as I searched for their nests in the rough
marshes, but here protection is afforded to both parents
and eggs, and the owner of this birds' paradise, as a
keen naturalist, is more than repaid for his hospitality.
During the same summer, also, and again in 1868, in
sailing from Norwich to Yarmouth, I was agreeably
surprised to hear the notes of these birds, and watch
them on the wing at many points of the river, a fact
sufficiently unusual now-a-days, in that neighbourhood,
to be remarked by the reed-cutters and watermen on the
river. On the western side of the county"^ they still
breed regularly on East Walton common, near West-
acre, one of the few "wet" commons remaining in
Norfolk, and in this unlooked for swamp, bordering
upon the old bustard country, I saw some five or six
pairs in May, 1867, and learned from Mr. Hamond's
keeper that they were even more plentiful during the
previous summer.

* Mr. Southwell obtained some nests in this district in 1854 ;
and Mr. A. Newton tells me that the late Mr. Selby's collection
contains specimens taken at Didlington, in 1856.
2 E

210 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Grateful to the ear as the melody of the song thrush,
when heard from the branches of the yet leafless trees,
or the first whistle of the stone-cnrlew and the ringed
plover in their desolate haunts on the warrens and
" breck " lands, is the scream of the redshank in the
early spring, just returned to its summer haunts amidst
the broads and marshes. In such localities, in very
mild seasons, they may be heard as early as the middle
of February, but are more generally seen in pairs about
the beginning of March, when their nervous actions
and swift jerking flight, added to their incessant and
clamorous cries,"^ enliven the dreariest waste of marshy
ground. It is noticeable, also, that the cock redshank,
in the breeding season, has a " song " of its own, quite
as much so as the ringed plover or the common snipe.
More than once, too, in the early spring, I have seen
the male bird, as Mr. Lubbock describes it, " pirouet-
ting" on a gate post, now running quickly along the
top rail calling loudly to its mate, now bowing and
fluttering like an amorous pigeon, and less mindful of
danger than at any other time. With Thompson ("Birds
of Ireland," vol. ii., p. 205), I am inclined to think
that '' what may seem timidity or fear on the part of the
redshank, should rather be attributed to restlessness of
disposition," shown as much when in pairs as when in
large congregations. The first eggs are usually laid by
the middle of April, and the nests are so artfully con-

* Mr. W. H. Power, in some interesting notes on this species
(" Zoologist," 1866, p. 125), alludes to tlieir habit of " rising and
falling in the air [in their spring flight] with a tremulous motion
of the wings, at the same time making a trilling noise," and adds
that at night, for they never appear to rest, beside their usual
note uttered when on the wing, they will join in a sort of chorus,
" one bird beginning and others chiming in, one after another,
much in the same manner as a flock of ducks assist the old drake
in his clamorous quacking."

COMMON REDSHANK. 211

cealed that unless their construction is known many
might pass unnoticed in a very small space. A hollow
is formed in the centre of a tuft of grass, part of
which trodden down forms the only lining, whilst
the remainder, arching as it were over the top, effec-
tually conceals the eggs from view; and as the bird
enters and leaves it from the side, and the grasses are
either drawn or fall natm-ally over the openings, the
little runs thus made in the surrounding herbage are
the only guides to its whereabouts. I have examined
several of these singular evidences of instinctive wisdom
and have always found four to be the fuU complement
of eggs, laid in a slight hollow with their small ends
inwards.^ During incubation, and more especially
when the young are hatched, the parent birds become
even more difficult of approach, and leaving their nests
like the lapwings, on the first alarm, fly screaming
round the intruder, their anxiety being evinced by
strange aerial evolutions. On the 24th of May, 1863,
I flushed a pair in some rough marshes, lying parallel
vnth the beachf between Holme and Hunstanton, and

* A very full and accurate description of the nests and eggs
of this species will be found in the " Zoologist " for 1867 (p. 602),
forming part of the " Oological Notes from. South-east Essex " of
Mr. W. Vincent Legge, F.Z.S.

* Thompson, who in his " Birds of Ireland" has given by far
the best account of this species of any British author, states that
on some parts of the Irish coast the redshank lays its eggs on the
gravelly or shingly beach, like the ringed plover, but I have never
heard of any similar instance in this county, although it is possible
such may have been the case when they were formerly more abund-
ant. By the author of " British Birds in their Haunts " the nest
of the redshank is also said to be placed in the marshes by the sea,
" under a shrub (popularly known on the coast of Norfolk by the
name of ' rosemary'), the Sucecla fruticosa, Shrubby Sea Blite of
botanists." The same authority, moreover, from his own obser-
vations, confirms the statement of a writer in the " Naturalist," as

2 E 2

212 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

presuming from tlie actions of the birds they had either
eggs or nestlings, I determined to watch them from
the neighbouring sandhills, and if possible discover the
position of the nest. Time was no object on that bright
summer's morning, so that I seated myself, glass in
hand, prepared to match my patience against their
parental solicitude. Although at a considerable dis-
tance they seemed quite aware of my presence, and
and with a rapid sweeping flight circled orer the marsh,
sometimes soaring high in the air as if about to leave
altogether; at others, swooping close to the ground,
but never stopping for an instant in any one spot.
At length the area of their flight diminished by degrees,
though their agitated cries were loud as ever, and first
one bird alighted, with a quick short run and vibratory
motion of the wings and tail; then another, but far
apart, and both stood motionless as a ring dotterel
on a ridge of shingle. Presently one, which I sup-
posed to be the male, again took wing, and dashing
to and fro, even more vnldly than before and with
redoubled clamour, seemed desirous to attract all atten-
tion to itself; but whilst admiring the cleverness of
this little ruse, I took care to keep my glass fixed
upon its mate, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing
her run hastily to a thick grassy tuft, and there with
trembling wings caress her young ones. Marking the
spot exactly, I started from my post, but long before
I reached it both birds were again on the wing, now
dashing over my head in the wildest excitement, and
loudly wailing as I stooped to search amongst the long
coarse grasses. There they were sure enough, three

quoted by Yarrell and Macgillivray (though discredited by the
latter) that this species, in boring for food, "dart their bill into
the sand nearly its whole length, by jumping up and thus giving
it a sort of impetus by the weight of their bodies pressing it down-
wards."

COMMON REDSHANK. 213

little downy things but a few days old, though, not
in the nest, which I subsequently found at a short
distance, and even then, but for their bright bead-
like eyes I might have passed them by unseen.'^
After all my trouble I could not help stopping a few
minutes longer to examine these beautiful little creatures
in their soft russet coats, barred on the back and wings
with two shades of brown, and their legs as strangely
disproportioned to their bodies as those of a foal in its
earliest stage. Then, with something of regret, as I
very much wanted a specimen, I put the youngsters
back into their tuft of grass, but was fully repaid by
witnessing, from my former vantage ground, the meet-
ing between old and young.

As a further instance, also, of the affectionate solici-
tude of the redshank for its progeny, I am enabled,
through the kindness of Mr. Rising, of Horsey, to give
the following interesting anecdote. " On the 29th of
May, 1868, as a marshman was ' quanting ' his boat
over Hickling broad, he was suddenly attracted by the
peculiar notes of a couple of red-legs [as they are com-
monly called in Norfolk], which kept flying slowly and
very low over the water, evidently bent upon an onward
course, but detained by some peculiar cause of anxiety
as they took no notice of him whatever. As he drew
closer, he 'observed something swimming in the water,
which on a nearer approach proved to be three little
redshanks. Still perfectly indifferent to his presence,
the old birds proceeded with their labour of love,'

* Mr. "W. H. Power, in the paper before referred to, describes
the capture of a young redshank, which, from a kind of ventrilo-
quism in its chirping notes, seemed to be always at a little distance,
first in one direction and then in another, but was at length dis-
covered, nearly at his feet, when he was about to give up the
search as hopeless.

214 BIKDS OF NORFOLK.

leading and directing, and, as it were, encouraging
and pressing them forward, and tlins they continued
to progress slowly but surely, till they were not only
out of sight (for the man kept on his separate course),
but till the cry of the old birds died on his ear." From
the line they were taking and the direction whence
they had come, Mr. Rising has no doubt that the old
birds were changing their feeding-grounds from the
Pleasure-boat hill to a place called Rush-hill, a distance
of some five hundred or six hundred yards, and were
thus watching over and leading their young.

At the close of the breeding-season our native red-
shanks again leave the broads and more inland haunts
for the sea coast, frequenting more particularly the
salt-marshes and brackish margins of our tidal streams.
At Blakeney, as Mr. Dowell remarks, "they assemble
in small flocks about the middle of September, and are
particularly shy and noisy ;" and from their thus dis-
turbing all other wild fowl, are objects of much aversion
to the sportsman and professional gunner."^ These
form, however, but a small portion of the flocks, which
assemble in these localities during the autumn months,
consisting of migratory families from the north, and
which leave us again after a time for more southern
quarters, although a few may still be met with even in
the sharpest weather. Again during the spring migra-
tion this species appears on Breydon and other parts
of the coast, in company with knots, godwits, and
ringed plover, staying only for a few days, and then
passing on to their northern breeding grounds. This

* It is this liabit of the redshank, and also of the turnstone
(as Mr. A. Newton informs me), tho.t has given both birds in many-
parts of Scandinavia the local name of "Tolk " or interpreter, the
origin of the specific appellation interpres given by Linna3us to
the bird last mentioned (" Linn. OSl. och Gothl. Eesa," p. 217).

GREEN SANDPIPER. 215

occurs generally about the first week in May, wlien
our own residents are occupied with their first sitting of
eggs.

A specimen killed at Yarmouth, in April, 1862, and
which is still, I believe, in Captain Longe's possession,
was at first mistaken,"^ from the light colour of its legs
and certain peculiarities of plumage, for the yellow-
shanked sandpiper (Totanus Jlavipes) , but on comparison
with skins of the latter bird from America, it proved to
be only T. calidris in an immature and somewhat ex-
ceptional state, and I have since met with a similar
example.

As an article for the table, the redshank is of but
little repute at the present day, being sold by the
gunners for about two shillings a dozen ; and even Sir
Thomas Browne alludes to it as "of common food,
but no dainty dish." The numerous entries, however,
of this species, in the L'Estrange accounts, together
with plover, spowes, and other shore-birds, show that
they were generally eaten at that time; and in the
Northumberland " Household Book " they are ordered
" to be bought at Princypall Teestes for my Lordes
owne Mees after j^- ob. [three half-pence] the pece."

TOTANUS OCHEOPUS (Linneeus).
GREEN SANDPIPEE.

The question as to the breeding of the Green Sand-
piper in England is still a disputed point amongst British
ornithologists, but as soon might we expect an Enghsh

* I have an impression, altlioiigli I cannot now find the refer-
ence, that this bird was recorded at the time, in the " Field," as the
true Totanus flavipes.

216 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

dictionary to prove a key to the literature of continental
Europe as that a perfect knowledge of the habits of our
feathered migrants should be acquired only by local
observations. Hitherto, as far as Norfolk is concerned,
this problem remains unsolved. The mere fact that
individuals have been procured in the county, in every
month of the year, is no more conclusive as to its
breeding with us than is the case with the golden
or grey plover, the knot, sanderling, or other similar
migrants ; but as regards this particular species there
is one very exceptional and important considera-
tion, namely, that of late years the researches of
European ornithologists have established a strange
peculiarity in its breeding habits ; indeed, to borrow a
common American expression, naturalists and green-
sandpipers, in this respect, have been hitherto alike " up
a tree." It matters not how much our preconceived
notions of the proper locality for the nest of a wader
may be upset by an inspection of Mr. Gould's plate
in his " Birds of Great Britain," the fact is indisputable
that the green sandpiper deposits its eggs, many feet
from the ground, in the deserted nests of the song
thrush and other arboreal species. If such, then, is
its ordinary habit in other countries, may not our
ignorance of this singular custom account for its eggs
never having been taken in England, although very
young birds are recorded to have been seen ?

This very remarkable peculiarity seems first to have
been brought to the notice of Enghsh ornithologists in
a review which appeared in the " Ibis" for 1859 (p. 405),
but even then judgment was suspended by the wi-iter,
who considered that the assertion required further
testimony. This was forthcoming a few years later,
but space will not admit of my quoting more than
a few extracts from a paper on this subject, by Mr.
Alfred Newton, in the " Proceedings " of the Zoological

GEEEN SANDPIPER. • 217

Society for 1863,^ but I would strongly recommend
its perusal to all who are interested in the history
of this particular species. From the ^* Naumannia"
for 1851 and 1852, he cites one or two instances of
the discovery of the nesting of this sandpiper upon
trees, on the authority of Herr Passler and Baron
von Homeyer, the latter stating that during his stay
at Haff he had seen many nesting places, which
were on the borders of the alder-wastes " in the
middle of the forest where the trees stand upon hil-
locks." Again from the "Journal fiir Ornithologie "
for 1855, we have the evidence of Herr Wiese, who,
writing on the ornithology of Pomerania, especially
in the district of Coslin, admits his former disbelief
in the statement of an old sportsman, that Totanus
ochropus laid in old thrushes' nests, nor was he at
all convinced until some years after, in 1845, when
" he obtained from the same man four fine eggs of a
bird of this species, which for some years had been
wont to nestle in an old beech tree." His scepticism
however, vanished altogether in the following spring,
when he himself found a nest of the bird on a pine
which had a fork about five and twenty or thirty feet
high, wherein he discovered "four eggs on a simple
bed of moss." In the spring of 1853 he also took four
eggs, and in 1854 " found a nest placed in the old nest
of a song-thrush, out of which the shed buds of the
beech had not so much as been removed." Again in
the "Naumannia" for 1856 and 1857, Dr. Altum
describes the annual nesting-places of this Species as
misseltoe-thrushes' nests, "often some hundred yards
distant from the nearest pool, and their height fifteen
feet or more from the ground ;" and in the same dis-
trict, on the 6th of May, 1855, Herr W. Hintz found

* Vide also the "Zoologist" for 1864, p. 9115.
2p

218 BIBD3 OP KOEFOLK.

three eggs on an alder in an old dove's nest, as lie
thinkSj though he states it might hare been that of
a jar. PreTionslr he had only observed this sandpiper
to nse old nests of Turdiis mxisiciis, excepting once when
he found some voung ones, onlr a few days old, hard by
a rirer bank on a layer of pine needles on an alder stub.
With a brief allusion to the remarks upon this subject,
by Herr Badeker and Dr. Baldamus, amongst foreign
ornithologists, and the review of the same in the
''Ibis" already mentioned, Mr. Xewton concludes with
a reference to the published notes of the late Mr. W.
H. "Wheelwright, who, under the signature of "an
Old Bushman," made known, in his communications to
the ''Field" newspaper, his own experience of the
green, sandpiper's way of nesting in Sweden ; and the
following portion of a letter received by him from
his friend Pastor Theobold, of Copenhagen (dated
November 27th, 1861). "The nidiacation of Totanus
ochropus is so remarkable that I do not fear to trouble
jou with the history the Forester Hintz [mentioned
above] has given me. He writes, — 'This year I
succeeded in finding the nest of Totanus ocJiropus.
On the 9th of May I took four eggs of this bird;
they were found in an old nest of Turdus musicus,
and seemed to have been incubated about three days.
The very same day there were brought me four other
esrsrs of this bird, also found in a thrush's nest. * * *
The lC>th of May there was shown to me a nest, thirty-
feet high, on an old birch, the bird having chosen an
old decayed nest of a squirrel. This nest was the
highest I have ever seen. Three young ones had just
been hatched ; in the fourth egg the bird was about to
break the shelL One jumped down and concealed itself
on the edge of a water-pooL The 11th of May a nest
with four fresh eggs was found, but they did not come
into my hands ; this was in an old pigeon's nest on a

GEEEX SiL>T)PlPZE. 219

Pinu» rvhra, and full of dry pine-leaves. The 20tli of
Mav two eggs, almost burst by the young, were found
in an old thrush's nest, the two missing birds having
most Hkely already left the nest. The 22nd of May
four young ones, apparently but a few hours old, were
found in the old nest of a Lanius collurio, in a juniper,
three feet high. The 24th of !May four young ones were
found in the hole of a Popidus iremula thrown down
by the wind. The year before Muscicapa luctuosa had
its nest in the trunk as it lay on the ground ; this year
Totanus ochropus had chosen the same opening. When
I approached the trunk, the young ones, perhaps four-
and-twenty hours old, jumped away and hid themselves
in the grass among the branches. All these nests were
near the water — two on the edge of a rivulet, the others
on wet morasses, the distance from the water being at
most sis feet.' "

In further coroboration of the above, I may add
that M. Grerbi in his revised edition of Degland's
" Omithologie Europeenne " (vol. ii., p. 226), men-
tions his having received from the department of the
Basses-Alpes eggs of this species, said to have been
found in a nest placed on a bush by the side of a
torrent. Herr "Westerlund, also, in his '*' Skandinavisk
Oologi " (p. 201), quotes from a Swedish sporting maga-
zine an account given by a gamekeeper that he had
found this bird's eggs in a squirrel's nest, and that the
nestlings reach the ground by the very simple method of
being thrown down by their parents while quite young,
their thick downy clothing protecting their Hght bodies
from harm.

Having thus far digressed, in order to show how
much our home naturalists* may have been misled, in

* Mr. Knox, in ids " Ornithological Eambles in. Sussex," makes
one most important statement in his notes on this species — viz.,
that four observed in June, 1843, "on the borders of a pond
2f2

220 BIKDS OP NOEPOLK.

their efforts to discover the nest of the green sandpiper,
I will now give, from our local authorities, a few of the
instances in which this species has been supposed to
have remained with us for breeding purposes. Chief
amongst these is the well known communication
from Mr. Lubbock to Yarrell, also recorded in the
'* Fauna of Norfolk " that he had been informed by Sir
Thomas Beevor "that one of these sandpipers built in
a hollow on the side of a clay pit upon his estate, in
the autumn of 1839, and hatched four young, which,
to his vexation, were taken by a shepherd's boy. TLey
are common during summer and autumn upon a small
stream which runs through his property near Attle-
borough." At that time, of course, the clay-pit was
looked upon as a not unlikely locality for the nest of

tkrougli whicli ran a clear trout stream, at Cocking, near Mid-
hurst," invariably betook themselves "into the great woods in the
immediate neighbourhood" when disturbed at the pond, and sus-
pecting that they might after all be examples of the wood sand-
piper (Totanus glareola), one was shot in the following July, but
proved to be T. ochropus. The probability, also, of this sandpiper
occasionally breeding in North Lincolnshire has been recently
mooted by Mr. Cordeaux, of Great Cotes, Ulceby, in the " Zoolo-
gist" (s. s., p. 1412 and 1459). In his own and the adjoining
parish of Aylesby, a pair or two have been observed during the
last three summers, and a farmer, whose land adjoins the small
stream which they frequent, at the latter place, assures Mr.
Cordeaux that towards the end of July, 1868, he observed "four
young birds along with the old ones sitting on a sand-bank in
the ' beck.' " They were " quite little things," and could " only
fly a few yards at once" ; they were quite a different colour to the
old birds — "much lighter." They were all seen for some weeks
after, about the same spot, and one of the young birds was shot
and sent by his informant to Mr. Cordeaux, who unfortunately
was from home at the time, and was therefore unable, as the bird
was not preserved, to confirm his evidence, but he is himself
perfectly satisfied with his authority. The young bird was said
to be " about as large as a jack snipe."

GEEEN SANDPIPER. 221

this bird, but tbougli Mr. Lubbock has recently assured
me that he took much pains to sift the case, and has no
doubt of the fact; yet with the light recently thrown
upon the habits of this sandpiper, one must be allowed to
question the actual nesting in the clay-pit,"^ although it
is quite possible that the young birds, reared close by,
were taken by the old ones to the clay-pit as a con-
venient hiding place. Again, on the 26th of July,
1840, Mr. Lubbock observed a small party of six by the
side of a small rivulet, which had been previously seen
in the same spot on the 23rd. " By creeping (he says)
on my hands and knees I obtained a good view of them
as they walked about on a mud bank, and believe,
from the duller look of the plumage of some, that they
were two old birds with a brood of young ones." In
some interesting notes on this species, by Mr. L. H.
Irby, in the " Zoologist" for 1853 (p. 3988), an adult
female is described as killed at Saham, on the 14th of
June of that year, ^' after having been noticed in the
vicinity for several days," but even at that late period
the breast was not denuded by incubation, " nor were
the eggs at all larger than hempseed." Messrs. Shep-
pard and Whitear had evidently a strong impression
that the nest of the green sandpiper might be discovered

* I have by no means overlooked the statement of Mr. Hew-
itson, in the third edition of his " Eggs of British Birds," that the
Rev. H. B. Tristram found fresh eggs of this species in Norway,
at the beginning of July, from which the figures in his work were
taken, and that one nest is said to have been placed "among
grass by the side of a sluggish stream;" the other two "among
fine pebbles by the banks of mountain tarns, which had a con-
siderable space of muddy shingly shore." These eggs appear to
have been taken between Bodo and Quickjock, in Lapland ; but
Mr. Newton, in the paper before quoted, suggests the possibility
of a mistake in the assertion, inasmuch as " this particular district
has been since visited by three other excellent observers, to no
one of whom did the green sandpiper reveal itself."

222 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

in Suffolk, when they wrote "we cannot positively
affirm that this species breeds here, though it seems
probable that it sometimes does so, as five green sand-
pipers were constantly found one summer near the old
decoy at Levington, in Suffolk ;" and Mr. Salmon also
appears to have been of the same opinion, as, in a paper
*'on the arrival of twenty-nine migratory birds near
Thetford," in Loudon's " Magazine of Natural History "
for 1836 (p. 524) he writes, "I have the following
entries of disturbing this bird during the summer of
1835 — June 21st a single bird ; July 19th a pair ; July
29th three pairs, all together ; August 3rd a pair ; and
September 8th a small flock of several individuals ; and
during the present spring — April 15th, 20th, and 29th,
and May 18th only a single bird at each time. Judging
from these circumstances I suspect it breeds in our
immediate neighbourhood." In the same locality, too,
Messrs. A. and E. Newton have often made similar
observations, and have told me of a single bird which
constantly, when flushed by the side of a pond, flew
into a large and thick plantation of Scotch-firs.

Such, then, as far as it goes, is all the evidence I can
give bearing on this much debated and most interesting
subject, but I have failed altogether to discover the
grounds upon which Messrs. Gurney and Fisher have
stated, with respect to this species, that "a few well
authenticated instances of its breeding in Norfolk are
on record." Whether it does or does not, however,
occasionally breed with us, the green sandpiper must be
classed amongst our regular migrants, appearing singly
or in pairs during April and May, and in small family
groups, rarely exceeding six in number, on their return
southwards at the end of July or beginnmg of August.

An approxunate idea of their proportionate numbers
in every month of the year may, I think, be gathered
from the following table of such specimens as I find

GREEN SANDPIPER. 223

recorded in my own notes for the last eighteen years ;
and which plainly shows that there is no month in
which one or more examples are not occasionally met
with : —

January 6

February 2

March 1

April 4

May 2

June 1

July 2

August 6

September 8

October 3

November 3

December 5

Mr. Lubbock states that he has generally seen
these birds when snipe shooting in March, but never
observed one later than the 11th of April ; from the
above list of specimens, however, I find the 23rd and
30th of April and the 5th of May the latest dates of
their appearance in spring, and the 28th of July (a
bird killed at Yarmouth, and, therefore, probably a fresh
arrival), the earliest date of autumnal migration; the
usual period being between the 3rd and 12th of August.

One example killed on the 1st of July, 1854, and
another on the 27th of June, 1861, in the marshes
between Acle and Yarmouth,^ may have been either
stragglers that had not paired off for the season, or birds
that had really remained to nest in that neighbourhood.
The number of specimens, also, obtained in December
and January is quite confirmatory of Mr. Lubbock's re-
mark that this sandpiper is to be found in its accustomed
haunts in the depth of winter, even with "deep snow
on the ground, and all the snipes driven out of the
county by stress of weather." This was particularly
observable during the intense frosts which prevailed in
the winters of 1859-60 and 1866-67, and it is remark-
able that at the latter period, when even our rivers

* In Messrs. Paget's " Sketch of the Natural History of
Yarmouth and its Neighbourhood" this bird is described as
"not uncommon,"

224 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

were frozen over, more green sandpipers were brought
to our birdstuffers between the 1st of December and
the 18th of the following January, than in any previous
twelve months. All that I then handled were in excel-
lent condition.

It should be here remarked, too, that since I com-
menced my ornithological notes in 1850, the past year
(1868) is the first in which I find no record of the
occurrence of this species, proving, at least, that if not
entirely absent they were unusually scarce; and I cannot
help agreeing with Mr. F. D. Power, who, in his notes
from Rainham in Kent, and its neighbourhood, in the
" Zoologist " (s. s., p. 1498) also mentions the extreme
scarcity of this species in 1868 as compared with their
numbers in the previous year, that this is probably
attributable to the severe drought and ^'the drying up
of the ditches during the summer."

Provincially this bird is known as the " Summer
Snipe," a term also applied to the common sandpiper
(Totanus hypoleucusj and the ^^Martin-Snipe," a name
probably derived from the base of the tail feathers and the
tail coverts being pure white, forming a marked feature
as it takes wing, and giving the bird somewhat the ap-
pearance of the house-martin. At the time of its vernal
and autumnal migration examples are occasionally met
with on the coast or in the adjacent marshes, both salt
and fi*esh water, but as a rule its haunts are more inland
than by the sea, and though pretty generally distributed,
it exhibits a marked preference for the black peaty soil
which characterises the low grounds to the south and
south-west of the county. Thus at Hapton, Flordon,
and Forncett, in certain favourite spots, one or more
are almost sure to be met with in any season, as well
as on that small chain of fens, which are situated on
the river Thet, near Hargham, Buckenham, and Attle-
borough. In the immediate neighbourhood of Norwich

GREEN SANDPIPER. 225

I have known them killed in the marshes about
Thorpe, Lakenham, Cossey, and Bowthorpe, and I have
also flushed them from the drains which surround the
snipe-grounds on East E-uston common; a rough peaty
swamp lying not far from the coast to the extreme
north of the county. I find no record of the appearance
of this bird on the Broads themselves, which is no doubt
owing to those sluggish waters, covered with minute
vegetation, and bordered with a dense growth of aquatic
herbage, being little suited to their feeding habits. The
banks of rivers and lakes have also far less attractions
for this species than the shallow winding rivulet, or the
" murmuring " brook, of our poet Laureate ',* where, in
the little bays that mark the winter's flood, the green
sandpiper, with quick nervous actions, feeds by the
water's edge under the sheltering bank. Always wary,
however, it takes wing on the least alarm, and, as Mr.
Harting remarks, from the fact of its usually rising
silently and not whistling till at some httle distance
the sportsman's attention is only drawn to its presence
when too late for a shot. As an instance, also, of
its partiality for marsh drains, Mr. Lubbock speaks of
its being most numerous in his experience at Norton,
in Suffolk, in 1816, where "a range of meadow drains

* " With many a curve my banks I fret,
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With wiUow-weed, and mallow.

I slip, I slide, I gleam, I glance.

Among my skimming swallows,
I make the netted sunbeams dance

Against my sandy shallows.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow.

To join the brimming river.
For men may come and men may go.
But I go on for ever."
2 G

226 BIRDS OP NOEFOLK.

having been cleared, and the nrnd thrown out on the
sides," these birds were remarked in parties of five or
six. The same author describes them, most accurately,
as being always fat but having a "fulsome muddy smell,"
and their note, he says, is " probably the loudest of any
of our fen birds " considering its size. This clear shrill
whistle may be heard distinctly when the bird is passing
over at a great height, and I have occasionally distin-
guished it on dark autumnal nights, not blended with
the cries of other birds, but apparently uttered by some
straggler, bewildered by the lights of the city and
calling loudly in its flight. Mr. Harting, who gives
a full and most interesting account of this sandpiper
from his own observations (" Birds of Middlesex "),
describes its food as consisting of " insects, chiefly small
beetles, spiders, small red worms, and wood-lice," to
which I may add small fresh water-snails, found in
the stomach of one killed at Langley in the month of
December.^

TOTANUS GLAREOLA (Linnaeus).

WOOD-SAOTDPIPEE.

This species, as compared with the green sandpiper,
is a rare visitant to our coast, appearing only occa-
sionally, and at uncertain intervals, on its migratory

* Since the above was in type, Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., has
kindly communicated the following note on this species : — " Mr.
Alfred Eoberts, of the Museum at Scarborough, has had the green
sandpiper (T. ochropiis) several times from the neighbourhood of
Hunmanby, in all cases shot in June. The keeper there says they
breed in old crows' nests ; he has seen them come off from the
nests."

WOOD SANDPIPEK. 227

course in spring and autumn. At such times, also, in
company with, other migratory waders, it is usually met
with in close vicinity to the coast, and a very large
proportion of the specimens procured in Norfolk have
been killed on Breydon. The very few records of
this bird by earlier local authors is attributable in
some degree, no doubt, to the fact that until of late
years the marked difference of plumage between the
wood and green sandpipers was but little understood.
Yet, though probably never common, even as a migrant,
this species is becoming more and more scarce in this
county, as will be seen by the subjoined list of recorded
specimens or such as have come under my own imme-
diate notice. This growing rarity may perhaps be
owing to the constant increase of drainage in many
parts of the opposite shores of Holland where, within
a few years, it bred numerously.

Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear omit this species
altogether from their List of the birds of Norfolk and
Suffolk; and a pair killed at Yarmouth in the spring
of ISSS"^ are the only ones mentioned by the Messrs.
Paget. Mr. Hunt speaks of two or three examples as
having been killed at Yarmouth. A young bird figured
by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher in the " Zoologist " for
1846 (p. 1324), which, together with an adult female
shot at the same time, is now in Mr. J. H. Gurney's
collection, was killed in a marsh, at Beechamwell, many
years ago during the summer months, by Mr. Scales,
of bustard celebrity. This youngster "not having
entirely lost its down," and being *' evidently not suffi-
ciently feathered to have crossed the sea," was naturally
presumed "to have been hatched near the spot where
it was killed ;" and is the only instance in which the

* These birds, according to Mr. J. Clarke, are still preserved in
the Saffron Walden Museum.
2g2

228 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

nesting of this species'^ in Norfolk has hitherto been at
all suspected. Mr. Lubbock, who describes this bird as
very irregular in appearance and uncertain in numbers,
states that '*many years ago, when a large tract of marsh
dykes were cleaned out, at Caistor, near Yarmouth, the
wood, as well as the green species, were for a time quite
abundant," showing in this respect a similar partiahty
for the dark peaty soil of the drains.

Of more recent occurrences the following are the
only examples with which I am acquainted : —

1847. April. One recorded by Messrs. Gurney and
Fisher in the "Zoologist" (p. 1769), as kiUed at Tar-
mouth, about the end of April.

1848. May. Three specimens recorded by the same
authors ("Zoologist," p. 2185) as killed near Yarmouth
about the 9th of May.

1849. August 2nd. Two specimens, male and
female, recorded by Mr. L. H. Irby in the " Zoologist "
(p. 3035) as shot at Yarmouth.

1852. On the 5th of May, during the great flood
in Hockwold Fen, before mentioned, Mr. A. Newton
saw a bird which he had every reason to think was
of this species, and on the following day at the same
place a pair. May 28th. A single bird was killed at
Sutton ; and three more at Yarmouth during the same
week.

1854. April 22. One near Yarmouth ; and on the
1st of July a bird, which I examined in the flesh, was
sent up to Norwich to be preserved, together with a
green sandpiper, a redshank, and a grey plover, all shot

* Mr. Hewitson (" Eggs of Britisli Birds," 3rd ed., 2nd vol., p.
332) states that " on the 3rd of June, 1853, Mr. Hancock, after a
long and persevering watch succeeded in discovering the nest and
eggs of this species for the first time in Britain, at Prestwick Carr,
near Newcastle." * * * « The nest was situated on a hillock,
in a marshy part of the carr, amongst heather and long grass."

WOOD SANDPIPER. 229

on Breydon. The grey plover was in full summer
plumage ; but, as before stated, is a bird which is never
known to remain with us for nesting purposes. A pair,
in Mr. Newcome's collection, killed by the river at
Hockwold, were procured, I believe, in this year during
the early autumn ; and from the appearance of their
plumage, and other indications, were evidently young
birds.

1855. August 22. Two specimens shown me in the
flesh had been procured somewhere in this county.

1856. September 27. A single bird was killed at
Burgh, near Yarmouth.

1852. May. One in Captain Longe's collection,
killed on Breydon.

From this date, although it is quite possible that
others may have been seen or shot, I know of no other
occurrence of this species in Norfolk, but Mr. Fenwick
Hele, in his " Ornithological Notes from Aldeburgh," in
the "Field,"^ shows that in 1867 they were unusually
plentiful in that part of Suffolk.

* In the " Field " of May 25th, 1867, Mr. Hele states that at
Thorpe Mere, on the 1st of May, he killed three wood-sandpipers;
" they formed part of a small flock," which disappeared shortly
after. Again, in the " Field" of August 24th, 1867, he writes —
" August 9th ; a flock of wood sandpipers have frequented the
First Mere for some days past. I have succeeded in bagging four
altogether. The note is similar to that of the green sandpiper,
but the flight is higher, and upon alighting these birds " fall "
to the ground similar to the jack snipe." In the " Zoologist "
for that year, Mr. F. D. Power also recorded an " extraordi-
nary flock of wood sandpipers at Rainham, Kent." He states
that on the 26th of July his brother " fell in with a large party of
wood sandpipers on some marshes near Eainham." He shot one
out of three that rose first," but at the report others rose on all
sides, and, joining in one large flock, flew round and round at
some height, continually whistling; their numbers he estimated
at from eighty to a hundred. After they had pitched again, he
succeeded in bagging four more, as in small parties " they flew

230 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

It is needless here to enter into any detailed descrip-
tion of the peculiarities in plumage of the wood and
green sandpipers, as this point is so fully explained
by Yarrell. My friend Mr. Harting, both in bis " Birds
of Middlesex " and in a communication to the " Zoolo-
gist " for 1867 (p. 973), has also done good service
in this respect, adding, moreover, one new poiht of
difference, that "in the wood sandpiper the shaft of
the first quill feather is white, the remaining shafts
dusky ; whereas in the green sandpiper the shafts of all
the quill feathers are dusky."

TOTANUS HYPOLEUCUS (Linnaeus).
COMMON SANDPIPER.

This species, familiarly known as the " Summer
Snipe," visits us regularly in spring and autumn, though
not in large numbers, seldom more than one, or at most
a pair, being observed at one time in spring, or httle
family groups of half a dozen together at the close of the
breeding season. About the first week in May they
suddenly make their appearance with other migrants on
our coast, and are then, also, for a few days pretty
generally distributed over the county ; frequenting the
banks of our rivers, lakes, and larger ponds in prefer-
round the ditches like dunlins. ISText morning he only met with
one, and after that only occasionally came across a few, seeing the
last on the 6th of September." Although the flock seemed to
consist chiefly of young birds, he obtained one old female, which
had not entirely lost its breeding plumage; they were all very
fat. Previously he had only twice met with this species at Eain-
ham — " one seen in July, 1865," and a second obtained on the
15th of July, 1866, on the same marsh where this large flock were
observed.

COMMON SANDPIPER. 231

ence, as a rule, to smaller streams. They have a marked
partiality, however, as I have myself observed, for sandy
or gravelly soils, being thus attracted even to a short
boat "staithe," or a pathway leading to some marsh-mill
from the main stream.

When walking in the early summer by the banks
of the river, or pulling leisurely along its winding
" reaches " the presence of tliis elegant little bird is
detected rather by the ear than the eye, as its clear
piping notes resent intrusion on its haunts. If not too
closely pressed it runs nimbly on before us, flirting its tail
up and down, and calling at intervals, or stopping now
and again to pick up some morsel of food ; whilst every
action of its body evinces a nervous excitability, remind-
ing one not a little of the wagtail tribe. If approached
too near the pace is suddenly quickened, and spreading
its wings and tail for flight the dark bronzed tints of
the upper plumage contrast strongly with the pure white
of the under siu-face, as it twists and turns in the air,
uttering again a loud wheet, wheel, as it speeds on its
way to safer quarters.

Why the Common Sandpiper should not breed in
the Eastern Counties,''^ is as diflB.cult to account for

* In Mr. A. G. More's paper " On the Distribution of Birds in
Great Britain during the nesting season" (" Ibis," 1865, p. 436) this
species is stated to be " scarce in the south during the breeding
season, and apparently wanting in several of the southern and
eastern counties. * * * Is reported to breed only occasionally in
Cornwall, but regularly in North and South Devon and Somerset.
In Dorset it becomes more rare." Mr. Knox describes it as "breed-
ing regularly in Sussex," though scarce. It is " doubtful " if it
breeds in Kent, and "appears to be wanting in several of the
eastern and southern districts." Mr. J. H. Gurney, when staying
at Pembroke in 1867, was also informed on good authority that the
common sandpiper nests regularly in that county, selecting the
banks of ponds for the purpose. At low tide they are constantly
to be seen in the town of Pemhrohe feeding on the shores of the
estuary (a branch of Milford Haven) which runs through the town.

232 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

as the restricted range of tlie nightingale in England ;
but unquestionably, to the present time, there is no
reason to suppose that it has done so. Stragglers have
been seen in June ; and old birds, accompanied by their
young broods, have been observed here as early as the
first week in July, and yet no former record, nor the
experience of any living naturalist, affords a single
exception to this apparently fixed rule. Mr. Salmon,
in describing this species as a regular migrant in the
neighbourhood of Thetford (" Mag. Nat. Hist.," 1836,
p. 525), states that, " like the dotterel, it only visits
us during its periodical migrations ;" and Mr. Alfred
Newton, whose experience is that of some twenty
years later, is of the same opinion. Mr. Lubbock, in
a recent letter, assures me that he has '^ never known
the common sandpiper to breed in Norfolk," although
some sixty years ago he remembers them not very
uncommon on the river Yare, and has seen one as near
Norwich as Carrow-bridge ; " but almost alwaj^s soli-
tary, never more than two together." On the 9th of
July, 1861, I met with two or tlrree small flocks on the
banks of the Bure, about seven miles from Yarmouth,
a very favourite locality ; and Mr. H. T. Frere (" Zoolo-
gist," p. 1876) thus mentions their most exceptional
abundance on the same river near Wroxham, in August,
1847 : — " I was much struck by the number of common
sandpipers, which I saw flying up and down ; there
were many family parties of five or six, but on t'VYO
occasions I saw a flock of as many as thirty or forty
together close by me." By the beginning of September
these birds again leave us for the south, but a single
bird was killed by Mr. J. E. Harting in 1863, on the
Bure, within a mile of Yarmouth, as late as the 2nd of
October.

The diving powers of this bird, which it possesses
in common with several other allied species, is thus

SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 233

referred to by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear — "Some
years since we saw a sandpiper flying across a river
attacked by a bawk, wben it instantly dived and re-
mained under water until its enemy disappeared. It
then emerged and joined its companions." It is also
said by the same authors to occasionally utter a note
very nearly resembling that of the kingfisher.

I had always supposed that the following description
of the " Maychit," in Sir Thomas Browne's " Account of
Birds found in Norfolk," referred to this species — "a
small dark grey bird, little bigger than a stint, of fatness
beyond any. It comes in May into marshland and other
parts and abides not above a month or six weeks,"
until, in a letter from Sir Thomas to Dr. Merrett^
(September 13th, 1688) I found the "Avicula maialis, or
Maychit,"t farther described as ^' a marsh-bird, the legs
and feet black, witJiout heel; the bill black, and about
three-quarters of an inch long," which leaves no doubt
that this bird (from its fatness "accounted a dainty
dish)" was no other than the sanderling.

I have omitted the Spotted Sandpiper (Totanus
macularius, Temm.) from the present List as I have
reason to doubt altogether the authority upon which a
single example was recorded by Messrs. Gurney and
Fisher as killed at Eunton, near Cromer, on the 26th of
September, 1839. I am the more desirous also of giving
publicity to this fact, since the claim of the Spotted
Sandpiper to be included even in the list of British
birds, rested solely, for some years, upon the authen-
ticity of this particular bird;f and though recorded

* Wilkin's edition of Sir Thomas Browne's works, vol. i., p. 399.

t No mention is made of this species in the original edition of
Merrett's " Pinax," pubUshed in 1667. Wliether any notice of it
ig given in that published in 1704 I am unable to say.

J Mr. Yarrell, it seems, heard of this bii-d from the late Mr.
Heysham, of Carlisle, who had seen it in Mr. Gurney's collection,
2 H

234 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

by Tarrell ("British Birds," vol. ii., p. 614)^ on the
authority of the individual who sold it to Mr. J. H.
Gurney, I had also the assurance, about three years
back, of the late Mr. John Sayer, of this city, that it
was a shin when placed in his hands to be stuffed.
A statement which I am the more ready to believe
from a recent and careful examination of the bird in
question.

TOTANUS GLOTTIS (Linnseus).

GEEENSHAKK.

The Greenshank is a regular though by no means
numerous visitant to our coast, as a bird of passage,
making its appearance with other migrants about the
first week in May, and again at the close of the breed-
ing season by the beginning of August. Being an
extremely shy species but few specimens are obtained
at either season, and these for the most part with the
punt gun ; and though stragglers are occasionally
met with on our inland streams, the tidal channels of
Breydon and Blakeney, or the flat sandy shores of the
''Wash," between Lynn and Hunstanton, have evidently
most attractions for them during their brief stay.

and but for this circumstance would have omitted this species
altogether from his List of British birds, believing that the examples
figured by Edwards and Bewick were no other than specimens of
the common sandpiper. Since that time, however, this American
species is said to have occurred in Great Britain, in several
instances, but I am glad to learn that Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., is
engaged in sifting the evidence upon which these records have
been made, most of which are, I suspect, extremely doubtful.

* This was omitted in the 3rd edition of Yarrell's " British
Birds."

GREENSHANK. 235

As exceptions to this rule may be mentioned a single
bird killed by Mr. Newcome, near the river at
Feltwell, during the first week of September, 1860;
and another recorded by Mr. T. E. Gunn, in the
"Zoologist" (p. 9290), as " shot in a meadow adjoining
the river below Hellesdon mills, about three miles
north-west of Norwich." This proved to be an adult
male. A female killed on the 12th of May, 1864,
contained a considerable cluster of eggs, of which some
were as large as hempseeds. Mr. F. Harmer, of
Yarmouth, in recording"^ the fact of two pair having
been killed on Breydon, in May, 1862, says, "three
were killed at a shot with a punt gun, on the flats
above mentioned, the other singly ; I have killed them
two and three at a shot in the same manner, but of
late years their numbers have been few during the
spring migration ; eight is the most I have seen
together on the ^ muds' at one time." From Mr.
Lubbock's account, also, there is little doubt that the
greenshank may be considered a scarce visitant now
in comparison with former times, as he states that in
August " these birds used to frequent the marshes by
day, and come down to wash themselves at the gravelly
margins of the broad [Hickling] in the evening,
when their cry was very singular and melodious."
There seems no reason, however, to suppose that this
species was at any time a resident in this county,
although on more than one occasion eggs resembling
those of the greenshank have been fo and in our marshes.
In the "Zoologist" for 1848 (p. 2147) Mr. W. E.
Fisher expressed his belief that three eggs then in the
collection of Mr. J. Smith, of Yarmouth, and "taken
some years since in the Norfolk marshes," were those
of the greenshank, having compared them with a

. * See " Field," 1862, vol. xix„ p. 494.
2h 2

236 BIEDS OP NORFOLK.

drawing of a genuine egg of this bird, obtained in
Sutberlandshire bj Sir W. M. E. Milner."^ The general
colour and markings of Mr. Smith's eggs agreed
with the drawing, although they differed somewhat in
form, being ^' less elongated." But it must be remem-
bered that Sir William's specimen was the result of a
Caesarian operation, and had probably not received its
full colouring. Indeed, Mr. A. Newton tells me that
he also saw the drawing, of which he now possesses a
fac simile, and that it was so unlike the normal egg of
the species that no correct opinion could possibly be
formed from it. Beyond the statement, then, that
there appeared to be no other species to which these
eggs could be referred, no satisfactory conclusion was
arrived at; and I also remember in 1853 being shown
two fresh eggs, said to have been found in the marshes
near Yarmouth, which answered very nearly to the
description of the eggs of the greenshank as given by
Macgillivray. These, I believe, passed into Mr. J.
H. Gurney's possession, but were never satisfactorily
identified.

Of some dozen examples recorded in my own notes,
I find about equal numbers were killed in spring
and autumn, the dates at the former period varying
between the 8th and 19th of May, and at the latter
between the 2nd of August and the 16th of September. f
I have never known this bird to appear even as a
straggler during the winter months, but Mr. Dowell
observed it at Blakeney in 1848, in the early part of
October ; and in 1853, saw a single bird at the "freshes"
as early as the 25th of July.

* See " Zoologist," 1848, pp. 2014 and 2024.

t Mr. A. C. Kennedy in "Land and Water" (September 21st,
1867) states that on tlie 11th of September, 1867, " a fisherman
shot three specimens of the greenshank on the river Aide, Alde-
burgh, SufiFolk."

AVOCET. 237

Mr. Harting who, under shelter of a sea wall, had
on one occasion the rare chance of observing the actions
of three greenshanks feeding on a mud-flat, remarks
("Birds of Middlesex," p. 181), "they placed the bill
upon the surface, the under mandible almost parallel
with the mud, and as they advanced, scooped from side
to side after the fashion of the avocet, leaving a curious
zigzag line impressed upon the mud." Their food
consists of mollusks, insects, and small Crustacea.

RECURVIROSTRA AVOCETTA, Linnasus.
AVOCET.

When examining a recently killed specimen of the
Avocet, so great a prize now a days to the local col-
lector, it seems hard to believe that such a remarkable
species should have bred regularly in this county until
within the last half century. Yet that this was the
case we know from the living testimony of both sports-
men and professional gunners, in whose younger days
this bird was comparatively common. Sir Thomas
Browne, unfortunately, gives scarcely any information
as to the localities frequented by it in his time, merely
speaking of the " shoeing-horn " as " a summer marsh-
bird and not unfrequent in Marshland,"'^ from which,
however, one may infer that it was then a denizen of the
extreme western side of the coimty as well as of the
coast-line to the north and east. From later authors

* In a letter to Dr. Merrett in 1668 (Wilkin's edition, vol, 1.,
p. 400), Sir Thomas describes this bird as "a shoeing-horn or
barker, from the figure of the bill and barking note ; a long made
bird, of white and blackish colour ; fin footed ; a marsh bird ; and
not rare some times of the year ia Marshland."

238 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

the only breeding stations of whicli we have any record,
are Winterton and Horsey, and a spot near the Seven-
mile House, on the Bare or North Eiver, all in the
neighbourhood of Yarmouth, as well as the far-famed
Salthouse marshes, near Blakeney, their last haunt in
the Eastern Counties.^ Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear,
from their own observations, wrote in 1824 that " during
the breeding season the avocet used to frequent the
marshes at Winterton ; and in the summer of 1816 we
saw one there which had young ;" so that its extinction
in that locality, if not actually effected in that year,
most probably occurred very shortly after.

At Horsey, as Mr. Rising informs me, they continued
to breed certainly as late as 1819, and probably a year
or so longer, but after that time "when the marsh
grounds, which had been enclosed, were either converted
into arable or were more or less frequented by men and
cattle, the birds forsook their haunts, and they were
lost to us altogether." Their nests were placed in the
lower parts of the marshes, adjoining the warren, over
which the sea had been, and which "retained more or
less of the salt left thereby, and where samphire used
to grow." A few visited Horsey in the summer of 1824,
but did not remain to breed ; and since that date Mr.
Rising cannot remember having seen above half a dozen
specimens, and those merely stragglers on their migra-
tory course. Of the condition of this wild district, prior
to the changes effected through embankment and drain-
age by the late and present owner of the estate, the late
Mr. C. S. Girdlestone, of Yarmouth, thus wrote to Mr.

* Pennant says " we have seen them in considerable numbers
in the breeding season, near Fossdyke Wash, in Lincolnshire ;" and
in the history of that county, in Gough's edition of Camden's
" Brittannia," I find the following passage — " Opposite Forsdyke
Wash, during summer, are vast numbers of avocettas, called there
' yelpers ' from their cry."

AVOCET. 239

Selby* in 1824 — " Horsey is a most extraordinary place
for all sorts of wild birds, though nothing as good as it
was ten years ago. It is a desolate spot, and duty at
church is performed only once a month, and in winter
this place is scarcely approachable." In the same letter,
also, the avocet or "shoe-awl," is described as still breed-
ing there, but, as shown before, reclamation had already
banished them with other contemporary species, whose
numbers had been slowly but surely diminished by other
and less justifiable causes. Mr. Lubbock, in 1845, speak-
ing of the numbers of this species that formerly bred at
Horsey, remarks that it "has not done so of late years,"t
but adds, " on the authority of an old and respectable
fen-man, it bred regularly forty years ago near the
Seven-mile House, on the North River; occurs still
sometimes on Breedon. The last I know of positively
in the fens, was a small fiock which visited Sutton
broad in 1828." As at the present day only stragglers,
or at most a pair or two, are ever seen on our coast
at one time, it is not improbable that the small flock
here mentioned reappeared in that neighbourhood with
some intention of resuming their old quarters, if undis-
turbed ; and we may conclude, therefore, that they
had altogether ceased to breed in the " Broad" district,
some time between the years 1824 and 1828. It seems

* For the privilege of extracting this and other passages on
Norfolk ornithology, from the correspondence of the late Mr. Selby,
I am indebted to the kindness of his daughter Mrs. Antrobus, at
the solicitation of my friend Mr. Alfred Newton.

t Mr. Lubbock also refers to a communication by the Rev. E.
Yentris, of Cambridge, to the " Magazine of Natural History "
for 1836, in which the writer states that he had been recently
informed that the egret " annually visited Horsey, in Norfolk, till
about twelve years ago, and that since that time it has disappeared."
This unquestionably was a mistake, the avocet and not the egret
being intended, as before shown (p. 150) in my remarks on that
rare visitant.

240 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

probable, also, that two out of tlie three stations above
mentioned, from their propinquity to one another,
consisted, as is the case with our heronries, of small
branch establishments from one parent colony, and
that, no doubt, centred at Horsey.

At Salthouse, long prior to the drainage of the
marshes and the erection of a raised sea-bank, the
avocets had become exterminated by the same wanton
destruction of both birds and eggs as is yearly diminish-
ing the numbers of lesser terns and ringed plover on the
adjacent beach. I have conversed with an octogenarian
fowler and marshman named Piggott, who remembered
the " chnkers " (as the avocet was there called),
breeding in the marshes " by hundreds," and used con-
stantly to gather their eggs.^ Mr. Dowell, also, was
informed by the late Harry Overton, a well known
gunner, in that neighbourhood, that in his young time
he used to gather the avocet's eggs, filling his cap,
coat pockets, and even his stockings ; and the poor
people thereabouts made puddings and pancakes of them.
The birds were also as recklessly destroyed, for the
gunners, to unload their punt guns, would sometimes
fire at and kill ten or twelve at a shot.f No wonder,
then, if the avocets thus constantly persecuted gradually
became scarce. It is stated, moreover, by Mr. Lubbock
that their feathers were much sought after to make
artificial flies. Here as in the previous instances, at
Horsey and Winterton, it is difi&cult to fix the exact

* The egg figured by Hewitson (" Eggs of British Birds,"
3rd edition, vol. ii.) from the late Mr. Salmon's collection, " was
obtarned by him in Norfolk, where he had no doubt it was laid."

t Some of these, probably, found their way into the London
Market, as Yarrell, speaking of the rarity of the avocet, says,
" Some years ago I was told that more than twenty specimens
were received at Leadenhall Market for sale within one month,
but now scarcely an example appears in a year."

AVOCET. 241

date of extinction, but it is probable from the following
particulars kindly communicated by Mr. W. J. Cubitt,
of this city, that it occurred between 1822 and 1825,
as he remembers, about that time, visiting Salthouse, in
summer, with Mr. Jary, of South Walsham, when two
or three couples were shot, and a boy waded through
the swamp and brought out a young bird. A single
bird was left, which he understood was seen there
for some time after, but he fears that this expedition
saw the last of the avocets. They bred on the salt-
marshes, subject to constant inundations from the sea,
beyond the shingly beach, and consequently the ground
was fall of holes and soft places, which rendered it
difficult to reach their breeding sites. From the
records of specimens killed subsequently to that date,
at Salthouse, it seems that until those marshes were
altogether reclaimed in 1851, stragglers from time to
time still visited their old haunt, on their migratory
passage ; but of late the few that have appeared on
our coast have been met with either on Breydon or in
the neighbourhood of Lynn. In Sir William Hooker's
MS. one is said to have been shot at Palling, near
Yarmouth, on the 3rd of May, 1831 ; and in the same
year, as Mr. Joseph Clarke informs me, three were killed
at Salthouse of which two are now in the Saffron
Walden Museum.

In the " Zoologist " for 1843 (pp. 148 and 182), Mr.
W. Ei. Fisher records two examples as killed on Breydon
in May and July, 1842; and on the 28th of March,
1843, a female was also shot on Breydon, and two
others were subsequently seen on the same "muds,"
of which one was killed. Of the first of these, which
was only wounded in the wing, and ran very swiftly
when pursued, Mr. Fisher states that " the gizzard
contained some of the small black beetles which abound
in the mud banks of the river, and what appeared
2i

242 BIEDS OP NORFOLK.

to be remains of shrimps, mixed with a good deal of
gravel."

In 1846 Mr. Dowell had a specimen brought him by
a gunner named Moy, from Salthouse, described as " the
first that had been seen there for some years." He
also states that another was shot at Salthouse, on the
26th of April, 1847, by the same man ; and in the
Dennis collection, at Bury, is an adult bird from the
same locality, marked June, 1847.

1848. September 7th. Three females shot at Salt-
house. (" Zoologist," p. 2292).

1849. April. One seen near Lynn, during this
month. (" Zoologist," p. 2455).

1851. June. Two fine specimens killed at Yarmouth.
(" Zoologist," p. 3208).

1852. May 2nd. A pair shot on Breydon. In the
"Naturalist" for this year (p. 128), a pair are also
recorded as killed at Yarmouth on the 12th of June.

1853. April (?). An adult male in the Dennis
collection, at Bury, was procured in the spring of this
year at Yarmouth.

1857. April. A single bird was shot at Yarmouth
about the 22nd.

1863. May. Two or three seen on Breydon.

1864. May. One killed at Yarmouth.

1865. May. Two shot at Yarmouth, and sent up
to London for sale.

1867. Of three killed on the sands of the estuary,
at Lynn, in the spring of this year, one is now in the
Museum of that town, and a pair in the collection of
Mr. H. Upcher, of Sherriagham.

In Mr. Gurney's collection are three specimens killed
in Norfolk, and Mr. Newcome has a pair in his collec-
tion at Feltwell; but although I cannot ascertain the
exact dates, I beheve they were procured some twenty
years ago, and are probably all of them included in the
above list.

AVOCET. 243

It must not be supposed tliat because my notes
contain no record of examples seen or killed from
1853 to 1857, and again from 1857 to 1863, that there-
fore none appeared on our coasts during those periods,
but undoubtedly they must have been scarce ; and this
species can only be regarded now as an irregular
migrant. Of such as I have been able to ascertain
the exact dates, it will be seen that only three were
obtained in autumn (September), the remainder in
spring and summer, between March and July, but
chiefly in the month of May.

It is much to be regretted that our earlier local
authors afford us so little information as to the habits of
this most interesting bird — whether for instance, like the
terns, ruffs, and redshanks, they were summer visitants
only, or, leaving their breeding grounds when the young
were able to fly, spent the winter months on the coast,
at the mouths of our tidal rivers. The avocet, however,
is specially mentioned in Eay's edition of Willughby's
** Ornithology," as frequenting "our eastern coasts in
Suffolk and Norfolk in winter time." The bird observed
by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, at Winterton, in
1816, is said to have flown round in circles "uttering
a shrill note [twit, twit], and then alighted in the
middle of a pool of water, on which it floated; then
took several turns on wing, and again alighted on the
water, where it sat motionless."

It has been questioned by many writers whether
these birds are really able to swim, but on this point
I can quote a high authority, Mr. Osbert Salvia,
who, in his notes "On the Sea-birds and Waders of
the Pacific coast of Guatemala" ("Ibis," 1865, p. 193),
says of the American species (Recurvirostra americana)
" avocets often swim ;" and with their semi-palmated
feet, so admirably adapted for traversing the most
treacherous swamps, there seems no possible reason
2i2

244 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

why they should not possess natatorial powers to a
certain extent. The eggs, generally two in number
but never more than three, are laid in a slight hollow
on the bare ground, or on a scanty lining of grasses,
and their method of procuring food has acquired for
this species the name of the '' scooping " avocet, as they
feed in line like mowers, leaving, as stated by Pennant,
*' alternate semicircular marks on the sand to mark
their progress ;" somewhat after the manner of the
spoonbill and greenshank, but with this exception, as
stated by Mr. Knox ("Zoologist," 1843, p. 227), "that
the avocet ploughs with the convexity of the bill." He
also states that a wounded bird, when turned loose in a
garden, exhibited the action of "ploughing or mowing
from right to left along the surface of the grass, or
rather brushing it from side to side." Their food is
said to consist of worms, insects^ and small thin-skinned
Crustacea.

HIMANTOPUS MELANOPTERUS, Temm.
BLACK-WINGED STILT.

This rare species has occurred in Norfolk, as an acci-
dental visitant, in several well authenticated instances ;
and I have, therefore, taken some pains to trace out the
history of such specimens as have been noticed from
time to time in our local records.

Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear did not include this
bird in their "List," published in 1824; but in Mr.
Lombe's MS. notes, I find mention of one killed in
Northwold Fen, in June, 1822, on the western side of
the county; and a pair are stated by Messrs. Paget to
have been shot on Hickling Broad during the same

BLACK-WINGED STILT. 245

year. Of one of these, which was shot by himself, Mr.
Lubbock communicated the following interesting par-
ticulars to Yarrell's "British Birds":— "On the 9th
of June, 1822, I was returning in the evening from
fishing upon Hickling Broad, when a bird of this species
flew past the boat within thirty yards. The legs were
extended behind, even more in proportion than those
of a heron ; the wings were much arched ; the flight
vigorous and regular ; the colour and the length of
limb made me guess what it must be. I asked the
fenman who was vnth me, what he guessed it to be ?
He considered it a ruff which had been caught, as is
sometimes the case in our marshes, by a horse-hair
snare, and had broken away with it. When I told him
that I believed it to be a very rare and valuable bird, he
wished to go in immediate pursuit, but I overruled that,
as there was not more than half-an-hour's light remain-
ing, and the bird, if shot at ineffectually, might leave
the country in the night. We searched for it early the
next morning, and found it in precisely the same place
as the evening before. When shot"^ it was standing in
a shallow pool of water, mid-leg deep, apparently snap-
ping at insects in the air as they buzzed round it."t

* This bird, wliicli is also noticed in Hunt's " List," was pre-
sented by Mr. Lubbock to Mr. J. Postle, of Colney, who was then
a collector, and at his death it came into the hands of his son, the
late Rev. Edward Postle, of Yelverton, and is now in the posses-
sion of Mr. Henry Postle, of Little Witchingham.

•f" In Mr, Salvia's " Five months' birds' nesting in the Eastern
Atlas" (" Ibis," 1859, p. 360) this species is described as breeding in
the marshes of Zana and Chot Saboun " in great abundance
amongst the wet grass, choosing for the position of its nest a small
tuft, so as just to keep the eggs out of the water." In some cases,
however, the eggs were half immersed. At the moment of taking
flight, the long legs of this bird hang awkwardly down, but once
fairly on the wing they are stretched out far beyond the tail ; and
when striding about in search of food their movements are not

246 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

In Mr. E. S. Preston's possession at Tarmontli is a
specimen formerly belonging to his uncle Mr. C. Preston,
of that town, which was shot on Breydon in May, 1823,
by old John Thomas, a noted gunner on those waters ;
the same bird referred to by the late Mr. Hoy, in a letter
to Selby, as published by Dr. Bree in the " Field " (vol.
XXX., p. 385), in that gentleman's description of Mr.
Hoy's collection at Stoke Nay land.

Again in 1824, according to the Messrs. Paget,
another was shot " two miles up the North river "
(Bure), which, at the time their " Sketch " was pub-
lished, was said to be in Mrs. Baker's collection."^ In
all probability this was the same bird which, as Mr.
Rising informs me, made its appearance at Horsey,
for one day only, in the summer of 1824, and escaped
uninjured. It is also, I imagine, the same which is
thus incidentally referred to by Tarrell — " My own
specimen, from which the figure and description here
given was derived, was obtained in the London market
in July, 1824, and was sent up for sale from Lincoln-
shire ; while this bird was in the hands of Mr. Lead-
beater for preservation, another was received from
Norfolk. In the intestines of this last specimen, which
I examined, was a species of tape-worm six inches in
length, broad, flat, and jointed." It is also stated by
Tarrell, on the authority of Mr. Lubbock, that " a pair
were shot by Mr. Salmon, at Stoke Ferry, in the spring

ungraceful. Tlie young stilt, he says, "is able to walk almost
immediately on leaving tlie egg ; one we found was capable of
moving about, while the other three were struggling to free
themselves from the shell. The nest is composed of a few bits of
dead reed or grass. The complement of eggs laid by one bird is
four."

* This is no doubt the specimen mentioned by Hunt in 1829,
as in Mr. C. S. Girdlestone's collection at Yarmouth, which passed
into the hands of his sister Mrs. John Baker.

BLACK-WINGED STILT. 247

of 1826 ; tlie female had eggs within her in a forward
state/' as was the case, as Mr. Lubbock states in his
" Fauna," with one of those killed near Tarmouth.
One of Mr. Salmon's birds is still preserved in Mr.
Lombe's fine collection at Wymondham, together with
another specimen (marked male and female in the
catalogue), which it is possible may be the one recorded
in his MS. notes as killed in Northwold Fen.

Another example appears to have been seen, but not
killed, at Tarmouth, in 1839, as shown bj the following
extract from a letter to Mr. H. Doubledaj, of Epping,
from the late Mr. Heysham, of Carlisle, (dated Sep-
tember 15th, 1839), for which I am indebted to Mr. J.
H. Gurney, jun. : — " From a letter which I received
a day or two ago, from a friend in Norfolk, I find that a
specimen of the black-winged longshank was lately seen
on Breydon, which, however, I understand, escaped."

In Mr. J. H. Gurney's collection is a female shot
near Yarmouth, about the 7th of May, 1842, as recorded
by Mr. W. R. Fisher in the " Zoologist " (p. 182) ;
and in the "Annals of Natural History," (vol. ix.,
p. 353), the same is stated by Mr. Gurney to have
been killed at Hickling, " apparently a bird of last year
and a female, containing ova of about the size of a
shot." This is the last that I know of as having been
actually killed in this county ; but a bird of this species
was seen at Tarmouth on the 19th of May, 1866, a
rather remarkable season for rare birds on their spring
migration. It was observed on the beach, as Mr. F.
Frere informs me, with other birds, whilst the artillery
were practising their big guns, and being thus disturbed
at the time, it was followed up by a gunner as far as
Caister, where he made a long shot at and missed it,
and it was not heard of again.

Mr. Newcome, of Feltwell, has a Norfolk-killed
specimen, which he purchased in 1853, at the sale of

248 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

Mr. Miller's collection at Yarmoutli. This may be
either one of those killed at Hickling in 1822, or, which
is quite as likely, Mrs. Baker's bird of 1824. All but
one of the above examples seem to have appeared during
the summer months between May, June, and July.
In the Dennis collection at Bury, I also found a bird
of this species, described as shot at Orford, but date and
sex imrecorded.

LIMOSA MELANURA, Leister.
BLACK-TAILED GODWIT.

The Black-tailed Godwit is another of those gral-
latorial birds which, within the last half century only,
have ceased from breeding in our marshes. It were
needless here to repeat the " twice told tale " of its
extinction, the same causes having effected the same
end in this as in many other cases, but I have thought
it desirable to ascertain as nearly as possible, from
contemporary evidence, the date when this fine species
ceased to nest in Norfolk.

"Five species in particular," wrote Mr. Lubbock
in 1845, ''used formerly to swarm in our marshes, —
the godwit, the ruff, the lapwing, the redshank, and
the black tern. -J?- ^ ^ * Whilst the redshank,
in the breeding season, flew dashing around the head
of the intruder on his territories, and endeavoured
like the lapwing to mislead the stranger from the
nest, higher in the air, and flying in holder circles
uttering a louder note, was the black-tailed godwit,
called provincially the " shrieker " from its piercing
cries. This bird is now almost extinct in this part
of Norfolk 5 it used to breed at Buckenham, Thyme,

BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 249

Horsey, and one or two other places." Mr. Lubbock
evidently wrote guardedly as to their extinction, prob-
ably not having the opportunity at that time to ascertain
the fact conclusively, but there is no question that
prior to the date of his ^^ Fauna" this species had
become, what it is now in this county, an irregular
migrant only. As far back as 1825,''^ we have the
following statement of Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear :
*' Some of these birds used to breed in the marshes of
Norfolk, and three years since we received the egg of
this species from Yarmouth. But it is doubtful whether
they are to be found at present in their former haunts."
This doubt I can now satisfactorily clear up, on the
authority of Mr. Eising, of Horsey, who remembers a
godwit's nest in that neighbourhood in the summer
of 1829, and thinks it quite possible that these birds
may have bred there some few years later, but for
the next ten years, being invariably engaged in London
during the spring months, he had no means of satis-
fying himself on this point, although greatly interested
in the subject. If we assume, then, that in yearly
decreasing numbers they still frequented certain
favourite localities for a few seasons longer, their
extinction may, I think, be said to have occurred some-
where between the years 1829 and 1835. It seems
probable, however, that during the next twenty years
a pair or two occasionally returned to their old hauntsf

* In 1824 the late Mr. 0. S. Girdlestone wrote to Mr. Selby,
*' I am informed the red godwits breed in some marshes ten miles
from hence [Yarmouth], but I cannot speak to the fact; but this I
know, we had some here about the 20th of June last season, and
my bird-stufier says he has had them in all the summer months,
and he is a man of veracity."

t As the hen harrier and Montagu's harrier, now no longer
resident, are known to do from time to time.
2k

260 BIEDS OF NORPOLK.

in the spring, though only to be robbed of their eggs, or
shot down from their rarity, as I have heard of such
occurrences from two or three different sources. Mr.
Gurney remembers, some thirty years ago, being in-
formed that a pair or so of black-tailed godwits still
resorted at times to Sir Wilham Beauchamp Proctor's
marshes, near Buckenham Ferry. This species, also,
as Mr. Gurney remarks, was formerly an abundant
breeder in Holland, but like the purple heron, spoonbill,
and Httle bittern has been so destroyed there of late
years, that it has become comparatively rare ; and this
fact would also in some degree account for its scarcity
on the East coast of England.

In the Catalogue of Mr. E. S. Preston's collection of
eggs, which was sold at Steven's, 23rd March, 1858,
" Lot 95 " consisted of " three black-tailed godwits,
Reedham, Norfolk, 1857." Two of these specimens are
now in Mr. A. Newton's collection, who was assured by
Mr. Preston that the above description of the eggs was
correct, and that they had been taken in Norfolk.

Mr. A. Newton has also an egg of this bird, given to
him by Mr. 0. Salvin, who obtained it from a friend of
his, Mr. J. King, late of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. This
example was bought by Mr. King, in 1847, in the Cam-
bridge market of a countryman, who had also a young
short-eared owl aHve — and there can be little doubt that
both bird and egg had been taken in this country.

In the western fens these birds are known only by
tradition as former residents ; but amongst the strange
incidents of the " great flood " of 1852, was the appear-
ance in that neighbourhood during the following spring
of this godwit amongst other species, once denizens of
that wild district, but unknown there for years. Mr.
Newcome's collection contains a pair killed there at that
time. A pair in Mr. Gurney's collection, in full summer
plumage, were shot in this county many years backj

BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 251

and two specimens in my own possession, one in summer
and the other in winter plumage, were also, I believe,
killed in Norfolk before they had ceased to nest here.

As before stated, the black-tailed godwit now holds
a place in our List as an irregular migrant only, visiting
us in small numbers both in spring and autumn. Prior
to the drainage of the Salthouse marshes they were
occasionally seen in that neighbourhood, but Mr. Dowell
describes them as rare at Blakeney, and the few speci-
mens obtained are mostly procured on Breydon.

In the "Zoologist " for 1847 (p. 1785) is the follow-
ing note by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher : — " On the 7th
(May) a pair of black-tailed godwits (male and female)
having partially assumed the summer plumage, occurred
at Salthouse." Another is also stated ("Zoologist,"
p. 1956) to have been killed at the same place, in
September of that year. The following are aU the
examples of which I find any record in my own notes : —

1851. April. A single bird, killed at Blakeney.

1854. May 2nd. A fine bird in full summer plumage,
shot at Hickling.

1859. May. A female in fall summer plumage,
killed at Yarmouth. In Captain Longe's collection.

1860. September 7th. An immature bird, shot at
Blakeney.

1862. August. A pair of immature birds, killed
on Breydon.

1863. August 22nd. An immature bird, killed at
Yarmouth. In the collection of the Rev. C. J. Lucas,
of Burgh.

1864. August 27th. Four fine immature birds, said
to have been killed at Yarmouth, were exhibited for sale
in the Norwich market, one of which is now in my own
collection,

1866. January 10th. An adult bird, shot at Yar-
mouth during very sharp weather,
2k2

252 BIEDS OF NOEFOLK.

Even in this short list of specimens, the young birds
of the year, obtained in August and September, are
the most numerous;* and although I have heard of
their being seen occasionally in winter in the neighbour-
hood of Lynn, I do not imagine that they are more
numerous at that season than in either spring or
autumn.

Mr. Rising informs me that their cries, when dis-
turbed in the marshes, very closely resembled the
mewing of a cat.

Both by Ray and Pennant, and amongst later
authors by Bewick and Montagu, the name of yar-
whelp or yarwhip is associated with this species, and
it is no doubt the same to which Sir Thomas Brownef
refers in a letter to Dr. MerrettJ [December 29th, 1668],
in which he asks, "have you a yarwhelp,§ barker, or
latrator, a marsh bird about the bigness of a godwitt ?"
and in his general hst of species he remarks — " Godwyts,
taken chiefly in Marsh-land; though other parts are
not without them; accounted the daintiest dish in
England ; and, I think, for the bigness of the biggest
price." In support of this statement, it may be mentioned
that Pennant describes them as " taken in the fens, in
the same season, with ruffs and reeves, and when fattened

* Even prior to their extinction in Norfolk, Messrs. Sheppard
and Wkitear speak of a large flock of these birds which appeared
at Yarmouth in October, 1819.

f Wilkin's edition of his works, vol i., p. 403.

X Merrett in his " Pmax" (1667), includes (p. 173) " Attagen,
a Godwit * * * in agro — Lincoln ,-" but his reference to a plate
of Jonston's " Theatrum universale de Avibus," wherein is figured,
under the former name, the hazel grouse (Tetrao honasia)
shows that at that time the idea of a godwit was not very well
defined among book-naturalists.

§ " Whelp Moor," near Lakenheath, probably derived its namo
from this species.

BAR-TAILED GODWIT. 253

are esteemed a great delicacy, and sell for half-a-crown
or five shiUings a piece." In the Lord North Accounts,
is a single entry of two " yerwhelps " supplied at two
shillings.

LIMOSA RTTFA, Temminck.
BAE-TAILED GODWIT.

Whilst the previous species has become scarce, even
as a migrant, the Bar-tailed Godwit may be reckoned
as the type of our migratory waders. Regular, and in
favourable seasons abundant, on its spring and autumn
passage, there still seems no reason to suppose that this
species was at any time a resident in our marshes;
though doubtless a still more numerous visitant in
former days, when the country presented far greater
attractions, and the persecutions of local gunners had
not as yet thinned their ranks, or warned them to ''pass
on" quickly to their distant homes.

In spring a few specimens are occasionally obtained as
early as the first or second week in April, either pioneers
of the main body of migrants, or birds which have
scarcely left our shores throughout the winter ; yet even
amongst these, I have occasionally noticed one or two
males which had assumed the rich red of their breeding
plumage. It is not, however, till the month of May
that the northward movement takes place in earnest,
and so constant is the date of their vernal passage, that
the 12th of May is known as " Godwit day " to the
Breydon gunners. Such, at least, from the observations
of many seasons, is the average time of their appearance,
though from the commencement of that month up to
the 20th or 21st examples are met with in every variety
of plumage, as flight foUows flight, impelled by instinc-

254 BIEDS OF NORFOLK.

tive warnings to Imrry onwards to their northern breed-
ing grounds. But though thus passing over us with a
marvellous regularity, it is not every season that affords
a harvest to the gunners. A cold backward spring,
with a long succession of north-east winds, will so delay
the passage of these birds, as well as many other
migrants, that with the first favourable change they
press forward almost unnoticed, resting scarcely for a
night to recruit their strength. On the other hand,
with a prevalence of south-west winds, at the appointed
time, and more particularly, I am told, if accompanied
by a light drizzling rain, the " muds " of Breydon
and Blakeney are ahke gay with their many tinted
groups, and the records in my own notes of the numbers
killed at such times, not of godwits only, but of knots,
sanderlings, turnstones, and such like, within the space
of a few days, fully proves the effect of these atmos-
pherical influences.

Such a season was that of 1855, and even more
remarkable that of 1866, when, through the kind-
ness of my friend Mr. F. Frere, of Yarmouth, I had
the opportunity of dissecting some eighteen or twenty
bar-tailed godwits, all procured on Breydon, and satis-
fying myself as to the relative proportions of males
and females, and the intensity or otherwise of the
colouring of both sexes in their nuptial dress. Of this
interesting series I have now fifteen skins in my own
possession, from which the following notes have been
made, and as the chance of taking accurate measure-
ments in the flesh from so many examples but rarely
occurs, I believe many of my readers will be interested
in the result of my examinations.

On the 7th of May I received two remarkably fine
birds, which had probably been selected from their rich
colouring, both of which proved to be males : —

No. 1. Male, adult. All the under surface of the plumage

BAR-TAILED GODWIT. 255

from the chin to the vent, bright chesnut red, with only a few
white feathers showing oh the lower parts of the body. The
feathers on the back also edged with rufous, but the wing-coverts
as yet but little changed.

No. 2. Male, adult. An almost exact counterpart of the pre-
vious specimen, but having a few more rufous feathers in the
wing-coverts.

Of half a dozen killed on the 16th of May, — five males
and one female, — the variation in plumage may be thus
described : —

No. 1. Male, immature. In a state of half change, with white
feathers sprinkled amongst the red on the breast and vent, and the
red of the neck, breast, and flanks, streaked and barred with black,
which in older birds, at that season, is almost entirely absent.

No. 2. Male, immature. Kather more mottled, with white and
black on the under parts, but the red tints very rich in colour, and
the testes somewhat larger than in the previous specimen.

No. 3. Male, adult. In magnificent plumage; nearly all the
feathers of the wing coverts margined with reddish brown, and the
whole of the under surface of the body one uniform rich chesnut.

No. 4. Female. In winter plumage with the exception only
of two or three red feathers appearing on the back and throat.
Feathers of the wing coverts and tertials much worn at the edges.
The ovary contained some eggs about the size of No. 6 shot.

No. 5. Male, immature [?]. A very abnormal specimen, which,
but for the evidence of dissection, I should have judged at once to
be a young female, the bill measuring within 2-8ths of an inch, of
the size of most females, whilst the other measurements are barely
those of adult males. "With the exception of a few minute freckles
of red on the chin, this bird is in complete winter plumage, the
feathers of the wing coverts and tertials being much worn, in
some only the shafts remaining towards the anterior portion of the
feathers. The testes were small, but still quite distinguishable.

No. 6. Male, adult. In exactly similar plumage to the two
kiUed on the 7th.

Three more specimens obtained on the 17th of
May, two males and one female, presented the following
differences of plumage : —

No. 1. Male, adult. Exactly resembling the two killed on the
7th.

256 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

No. 2. Male, immature. Eesembling No. 1. killed on the
16th, but with fewer black markings on the breast and flanks.

No. .S. Female. The chin, neck, breast, and flanks sufiused
with reddish tints, mixed with dull white, and streaked and barred
with dusky brown, a state of plumage much resembling the female
sanderling at the same period. The lower part of the breast and
vent still pure white, with a few dark bars and reddish feathers
showing here and there. Wing coverts still grey, but the feathers
of the head, neck, and back gradually acquiring their reddish
margins. Ovary fall of eggs, but none larger than dust-shot.
Three other birds of the same size, killed at the same time, and in
somewhat similar plumage, proved to be females.

Of the last series killed, on tlie 19th of May, two
proved to be males and two females : —

No. 1. Male, adult. Similar to the two killed on the 7th of
May, very rich in the colour of the neck and breast, but with only
a few reddish feathers appearing in the wing coverts.

No. 2. Female. The change to summer plumage only just
commencing. The under parts slightly tinged with red on the
neck and breast, but the dark streaks and bars very prominent.
Only a few feathers on the lower part of the back have reddish
margins. The ovary contaiued some eggs about the size of No,
4 shot.

No. 3. Female. In much the same plumage as the last, but
the red on the breast and flanks rather more vivid. Some of the
eggs about the size of No. 4 shot.

No. 4. Male. Plumage resembling No. 6, killed on the 16th
but having more white feathers still showing on the lower part of
the back and breast.

From a comparison, of the above specimens, it is
evident that the same rule appKes to this species as to
the sanderlings in the gradual assumption of their
nesting pluma.ge, but the female godwit* never assimi-
lates so nearly in colour to the male, as is the case with

* Mr. Alfred Newton informs me that the female godwita
which he has had from Lapland, some of them killed from the
nest, have never been very red, but in that pale plumage which
was described by Leisler (Nachtrage, p. 172) as characteristic of
the so-called Limosa meyeri.

BAR-TAILED GODWIT. 257

the adult female sanderling, which, as I have before
stated, is distinguishable only by dissection in some
instances.

The old males evidently commence their change
much earlier than the young birds of the previous
season, as I have handled one in nearly full summer
plumage by the 1st of April ; and the two killed on the
7th of May, 1866,'^ were very nearly as perfect as the
exceptionally fine male shot on the 16th. In all cases
the full red birds that I examined had the testes largely
developed, whilst the same parts in the males with
broken plumage were invariably small.

The great difference in size between the male and
female godwits was at one time supposed to denote a
specific distinction,t but whilst we now know that the
largest are always females and the smallest males, J both

* In the "Field" of May 26th, 1866 (p. 445), Mr. F. Hele, of Alde-
burgh, states that on the 14th several flights of bar-tailed godwits
appeared about Thorpe mere and river. Such an occurrence had
not been known since 1860, although a few appear every spring.
The difference in weight between males and females he describes
as remarkable ; " in one case being in the male only six and a
half ounces, whUst the female weighed one drachm over ten and
a half ounces."

t See Colonel Hawker's " Instructions to Young Sportsmen."
Eleventh edition, p. 232.

J Thompson, in his " Birds of Ireland" (vol. ii., p. 229), after
stating that of seven birds killed at the same time on the 6th
of March, " the small ones proved to be males and the large ones
females," says "the bills of the latter, from forehead to point,
were from four to four and a quarter inches long," which is
in excess of all but one of my own specimens. He also adds,
" others which I have killed exceeded four and a half inches ; a
young bird of the year, obtained on the 24th of August, had a
bill only two inches in length [less than the smallest male in my
series]. At the end of October I once shot a godwit of little
more than half the ordinary weight, and hardly exceeding a grey
plover in size." All proving the extraordinary variation in tho
proportions of both sexes.

2l

258

BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Middle

BUI.

Tarsus.

toe and
claw.

inch.

inch.

inch'

3|

.. 2i

.. H

3|

.. 2i

.. H

also differ mucli inter sej and occasionally, as will be
seen by the subjoined tables, a female with an unusually
short bill, and a male with an exceptionally long one,
may entirely mislead the too credulous ornithologist
who relies upon external features only.

FEMALES.
*Length. Wing.

inch. inch,

No. 4, May 16 16f ... 8f

No. 3, May 17 16| ... 9i

Not in my series, but"^

kUled May 17th. EadJ 16 ... 8|

tinge just commencing J

Ditto, ditto 16| ... 8|

No. 3, May 19 15f ... 9

No. 2, Mayl9t 16^ ... 9

MALES.

No. 1, May 7 14i ... SJ

No. 1, May 16 14^ ... 8^

No. 2, May 16 14i ... 8^

No. 3, Mayl6t 14f ... 8|

No. 5, Mayl6§ 14J ... 8i

No. 2, May 17 13| ... 8i

No. 1, May 19 14^ ... 8^

3|
31
4h

2i

2
2

2i

. H ..

2 ..

. 3i ..

2i ..

. 2| ..

2 ..

. 2| ..

2 ..

. 3f ..

2 ..

. 21 ..

n ..

. 3i ..

2 ..

H

H
If

13.

If
u

* Total length from tip of bill to end of tail. Wing, from
carpal joint to end of longest quill (first). Bill, measured along
the upper mandible.

The numbers and dates are those of each specimen as given in
describing the plumage, and correspond with the numbers and
dates on the label attached to each bird for convenience of future
reference.

t The difference in length between this bird and the previous
one is owing chiefly to the size of the bill, which in No. 3 is also
exceptionally short.

J The most perfect in plumage of all the male birds.

§ The male before mentioned as backward in plumage, and
unusually long in the bill, which accounts for the excess iu the
total length • the other measurements are rather under the average.

BAR-TAILED GODWIT. 259

In their spring migration these birds are not entirely
confined to the vicinity of the sea-coast, as, on the 10th
of May, 1858, two males and two females were observed
by the Rev. T. J. Blofeld on a drained marsh at
Hoveton, and one pair remained long enough for him
to examine them carefully with a glass, the female
approaching within shot. A pair were also seen by
him, on the same marsh, on the 9th of May, 1861, which
seemed so tame, being unmolested, that he began to
hope they might remain to breed, but after the third
day they disappeared altogether. I may here also add
that, differing fi'om almost all our migratoiy waders,
I have never known stragglers of this species killed
during the months of June and July ; but their reappear-
ance early in autumn is a matter of common observation.

Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear have recorded one,
killed in the beginning of August, as still retaining the
full summer plumage, and I have seen similar specimens
about the same date. On the 13th of September, 1865,
I saw four or five couples in the Norwich market, of
which one had scarcely commenced its autumnal change,
and the rest retained much of their summer garb ;
which agrees with Mr. Dowell's experience at Blakeney,
who says that in August, September, and October, small
flocks are found frequenting the Blakeney harbour, and
are for the most part very tame, feeding up to within a
few yards of ojie's feet when quietly watching them.
Some of these in September were still slightly red-
breasted, but a bird shot on the 5th of October had
completed its winter grey.

During the winter months a few pairs still linger
about our shores, and are met with even during the
sharpest weather. In January, 1847, Mr. Dowell had
several brought to him in winter plumage by a Blakeney
gunner, and has seen stragglers himself in Blakeney
harbour, during the same month. From my own notes
2l2

260 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

I find that a pair were sliot at Wells in 1856, on tlie
21st of November, and two more at Yarmontli on
December 16tli. Again on the 12th of January, 1862,
three specimens were sent up to Norwich from Sher-
ingham beach with snow-buntings, knots, dunlins,
and a purple sandpiper ; and on the 26th of May,
1862, during a severe frost, several couples were
exhibited for sale, with other birds, in the Norwich
market. On the 8th of January, 1867, a male bar-tailed
godwit was taken in a meadow near Eeepham, as Mr.
F. Norgate informs me, most probably carried thus far
inland by a heavy gale at the time.

Mr. Harting describes the note of this bird as re-
sembling the words " lou-ey, lou-ey."

I never remember to have heard the name of '' Half-
curlew" applied to this species on the Norfolk coast, as
stated by Mr. Johns in his "British Birds in their
Haunts," being a term here commonly and more appro-
priately used for the whimbrel, but at Blakeney Mr.
Dowell states that bar-tailed godwits are known to the
local gunners by the singular appellation of "Picks" and
**Scamells." These words are of course written down
phonetically, but whence their derivation I am at a loss
to conceive. He believes by " Scamells" are meant
the females and those found singly in autumn ; and by
"Picks," the smaller males most abundant in the
spring flocks. He further suggests that the word
" Picks " may possibly have originated from their
manner of feeding, as the turnstone in the same locality
is termed the " Tangle picker " ; but the definition of
" Scamells" I must leave to the ingenuity and research
of the indefatigable editor of " The East Anglian."

On the Sussex coast this same species is known as
the "sea woodcock," and Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun.,
assures me that a Pagham gunner once pointed out to
him a godwit on the wing, and maintained his assertion
that it was a woodcock.

RUFF. 261

MACHETES PUGNAX (Linnffins).
EUPF OR (female) EEEVE.

Whilst lamenting the absence from our marshes in
summer of the avocet, the black-tailed godwit, and the
black tern, it is remarkable that the Ruff, with all its
peculiarities of action and plumage, should still remain
with us during the breeding season. Norfolk, also, as
far as I can ascertain, is now the last resort of this
species in the Eastern Counties. Pennant described
it as frequenting in his time various localities in
Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely, and the East Riduig of
Yorkshire, but Colonel Montagn,"^ when making a tour
in Lincolnshire, with special reference to this species, at
the commencement of the present century, found " that
they were become much more scarce than they were
before a large tract of the fens was drained and
enclosed ;" and both in that county and in Suffolk,
I believe, they are now extinct, except as passing
migrants, t

In this county, in former times, not only the marshy
portions of the " Broad " district but also the western
Fens, appear to have been frequented by these birds in
considerable numbers, for Sir Thomas Browne remarks
** they most abound in Marshland, but are also in
good numbers in the marshes between Norwich and
Yarmouth." From Mr. Alfred Newton's enquiries
some few years siace, there is no doubt that they were

* See the " Supplement " to Montagu's " Ornithological Dic-
tionary," published in 1813.

t Mr. A. G. More, in his paper on the " Distribution of Birds
in Great Britain during the nesting season" ("Ibis," 1865, p. 437),
speaks of the ruff as having ceased from breeding in Durham
and Yorkshire, in Huntingdon, Cambridge, Northampton, and
" probably also in Lincolnshire," and gives only East Norfolk as
an annual breeding site, with Northumberland " occasionally."

262 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

plentiful enough in the Hockwold and Feltwell Fens
between twenty and thirty years ago, iintil banished,
with other species, by extensive drainage, and my friend
Mr. Roberts, who for many years practised as a surgeon
in that neighbourhood, assures me that he has seen
ruffs m the spring fighting in the Feltwell Fens. Even
now, should the autumn prove more than usually wet,
a few will occasionally frequent the "washes" for
a time, as occurred about two years since, when Mr.
Newcome obtained several specimens of both ruffs and
reeves ; and in the spring of 1853, after the " great
flood," this species with other former denizens again
resorted to the fens thus temporarily restored to their
normal condition.

On the eastern side of the county, as far as one can
ascertain from our local records, they appear to have
been very generally distributed, more particularly in
the centre of the '* Broad" district, bordering upon
the banks of the Bure and its tributaries; and in
the valley of the Yare (in the very same locality
above cited from Sir Thomas Browne's notes), the
ruff was described as " common " by the Messrs.
Paget in 1834, " especially at Reedham and Acle." A
very beautiful series of ruffs, in the collection of Mr.
Spalding, of Westleton, were all taken in two days,
in the Buckenham marshes, between Norwich and
Yarmouth, some thirty years ago, prior to the formation
of the Great Eastern Railway, which now traverses
those once noted snipe grounds.

The Winterton marshes, near Yarmouth, are inci-
dentally mentioned by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear
as a nesting place of this species in 1817, where, I
believe, they were still met with in summer, within the
last fifteen or twenty years, and at Horsey within the
last five or six. For although the drainage of the salt
marshes in both those localities had long before banished

RTTFP. 263

the avocet, the ruffs were but little affected. In
like maimer, also, there seems no reason to suppose
that these birds ever bred in the brackish marshes at
Salthouse, although frequently observed there as birds
of passage. At Hoveton Mr. Blofeld has not known
them as residents for more than thirty years ; but in
May, 1862, a flock of ruffs and reeves visited his
marshes, and gave him hopes of their remaining, but
all took their departure again after a few days' rest.

Mr. Lubbock, from personal observation, refers
specially to the vicinity of Heigham Sounds as their
head quarters amongst the larger broads ; and the late
Mr. John Kerrison remembered them years back in some
plenty in the Ranworth marshes. At the present time,
however, Hickling alone, of all that still wild country, is
visited annually by a few of these birds, but, should they
become exterminated, the race of Norfolk, may we not
almost say, of British ruffs, will have become extinct. Can
nothing be done to secure, before it is too late, the same
protection for our resident waders, as is about to be
afforded to the sea fowl on our coasts and the " loons "
on our inland waters ? In this instance, I know, the
lord of the manor does his utmost to protect the ruffs
and reeves in his marshes, but so long as no actual
penalty attaches to the robbery of the nests, or the
snaring of hen birds in the act of incubation, it is
impossible to preserve effectually in such places. Idle
hands will always be found ready to risk the trespass,
so long as cash or beer at the village public forms a
tempting bait, with but little fear of detection. In my
own notes for the last sixteen years I find frequent
entries with reference to both eggs and birds brought up
to Norwich for sale from the Hickling marshes ; and
in the summer of 1866, when there were an unusual
number of nests, a corresponding supply of reeves' eggs
found their way into the hands of our bird-stuffers.

264 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Two, evidently fresh laid, were shown me on the 16th
of May, and four others, but slightly sat upon, on the
6th of June. I have also notes of some taken in other
seasons during- the latter month.* As long since as
1824, Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear attributed the
growing scarcity of this species in the Norfolk marshes
to birds and eggs being alike eagerly sought after for the
London market, and both, of course, for edible pur-
poses. A curious instance of the attachment of the
female for her eggs is also given by the same authors,
who state that a reeve was caught on her nest by the
warrener's boy at Winterton, in 1817, and carried by
him to his master, who ordered her to be set at liberty ;
the next day she was found on her nest again.

As to the date of the appearance of these birds, in
spring, Mr. Fisher, in recording " the times of arrival of
some of the summer birds of passage at Yarmouth in
1843" ("Zoologist," p. 248), gives the 25th of March as
the first appearance of reeves, but adds, " I saw no ruffs
for some days afterwards ; may they not arrive sepa-
rately, the reeves first?"! This is most probably the case,

* According to Montagu the " reeves begin laying their egga
the first or second week in May," and he had found their nests
with young " as early as the 3rd of June." * * * When the
reeves begin to lay, both those and the ruffs are least shy and so
easily caught that a fowler assured him " he could with certainty
take every bird on the fen in the season." And no doubt this
system of making "two seasons," as adopted by some fen-men, thus
verifying, as our author says, " the fable of the goose and the
golden eggs," was the main cause of their diminished numbers ;
whilst after all, the birds taken in spring " frequently pine and
will not readily fatten."

t In the "Zoologist" for 1868 (p. 1284), Mr. Cordeaux states that
on the 20th May he saw " eight birds, like large sandpipers, feeding
in a fifty acre grass field, adjoining the Humber." Of these, bye-
very long cross shot, he killed three, which all proved to be reeves
in good condition and plumage, and the remainder he believes to

EUFF. 265

since the ruffs, unlike any other birds of this family,
being polygamous, no doubt keep apart from the reeves
during the winter months ; but I remember a ruff, still
in plain garb, and two reeves being shot on the same
day at Hickling, on the 26th of March, 1852. On
the 15th of April, 1864, a fine ruff was shot on a
ploughed field at Runhall, near Hingham, almost in
the centre of the county, and three others observed
with it were said to be very tame. On Breydon,
Mr. Frere tells me, they are seldom seen in spring, but
a couple were shot on the ooze in May, 1864, another
pair during the same month about five years before;
and three reeves were killed on the beach at Yarmouth,
on the 19th of May, 1866, These late arrivals appearing
simultaneously with knots, godwits, and other migrants,
are evidently foreigners passing on to more northern
breeding grounds. In the autumn the Breydon gun-
ners usually find them more plentiful, and one of
them asserts that he has killed four and five reeves in a
day, but no doubt some of these would be ruffs without
frills as well as young birds of the year. Again at
Blakeney and Salthouse Mr. Dowell says they are most
frequently seen, though in small numbers, towards
the end of summer and in autumn, but in the spring
of 1846 he killed two at Salthouse, and two more
were shot there in July of the same year. Both in
August and September I have not unfrequently seen
young and old birds (the ruffs, of course, without frills)
in our birdstuffers' shops, sent up from Yarmouth.
A reeve killed by Mr. J. E. Harting on the bank of

liave been reeves also, as they "appeared all of the same size."
The stomachs of two, he says, " contained the remains of some
small bronzed-vsonged beetles and earwigs, also several small sharp
stones. These stones, felspar and quartz, must have been taken
into the gizzard at a great distance from this place, and probably
in a granite district."
2 M

266 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

the North river, near Yarmouth, on the 2nd of October,
1863, is the latest as to date that I have known in
autumn, and in no single instance am I aware of this
species having been observed during the winter months.*
Mr. Harting's specimen, which is particularly referred
to in his " Birds of Middlesex," was feeding alone at
the time, and allowed of so near an approach before it
rose that he could observe its actions minutely. In
walking, he tells me, it picked its way daintily along
the "rand," the body carried horizontally, and with
trailed wings, the head nodding at every step. When
flushed it uttered no cry, but flew lazily away, and
pitched again within forty yards, when he followed
it up and secured it. It was in fine plumage and very
fat, the stomach filled with the remains of small beetles
mixed with minute particles of grit.

With the exception of Colonel Montagu's account
of this species, so extensively quoted by Yarrell, Mr.
Lubbock's observations on the habits of the ruif and
reeve are both the fullest and the most trustworthy with
which I am acquainted, and these having a peculiar
local interest, whilst the '^ Fauna of Norfolk" is out of
print, I feel no hesitation in giving copious extracts
therefrom.

The marked decrease in their numbers of late
years he attributes to " the beauty of the bird having
caused it to be more than ever sought after. A
ruff ^with his show on,' which is the provincial
phrase by which the fen-men here designate one of
these birds in the breeding plumage, is exactly the
creature which all bird-preservers eagerly snap up;"

* In Ireland where, according to Thompson (" Birds of Ireland,"
vol. ii., p. 230), this species is not unfrequent in autumn but rare
in spring, and is not known to have been a resident at any time,
BBveral specimens have been killed in October, and even as late
as the 29th of November.

EUFP. 267

being purcliased not merely by the naturalist, but
by any one desiring "a pretty object in a glass
case." Of the assumption of its peculiar dress by the
male he says, " The whole of this extra plumage is
put forth in about five weeks. A ruff shot in the
beginning of April, the period of their arrival, if the
spring is fine, has a few caruncles about the base of
the bill, and the feathers of the neck appear in a ragged
and unsettled state ; here and there a longer one, half
perfected, protruding. In a month this bird's * show '
would be complete."^ The young ruffs of one year do
not produce so perfect a ' show ' as older birds."

When in perfect plumage "the colours of the ruffs
are so various that it is hard to say which is most
common; perhaps the most general livery is reddish
chesnut, or black and white bars ; the rarest tint is
certainly pure white. A hill of ruffs looked at from a
distance on a sunny day, with the light glancing on
their party-coloured plumage, was a very pleasing
spectacle, though now of rare occurrence in Norfolk.
To view them thus, it was necessary to be paddled by
a skilful hand in a small punt up some main dyke in
the fen, so as to approach completely screened from
view by the high banks ; for no bird is more vigilant,
or more impatient of near approach, than this. It is
therefore very difl&cult to shoot, although it may some-
times be allured within fair reach of the gun by means
of a stalef or stuffed reeve. This, however, is only for

* The feathers which form the ruff, according to Montagu,
" are scarcely completed in the month of May, and begin to fall
the latter end of June;" and the fowlers believe that the males
" are not more than one season in arriving at maturity."

f This word, known to every Shakespearian reader, seems in

process of time to have become corrupted as to its meaning. It

appears to have originally signified a dead bird, set up so as to

look like a living one. The method of making a " stale" is thus

2 M 2

268 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

a very short period, wlien the ruffs, having broken up
their 'hill,' disperse themselves about the marsh in
search of the reeves. At this time the distance is extra-
ordinary from which a ruff will come to a reeve whilst
flying* in circles round her nest. I have known a reeve
thus put in motion bring three or four ruffs from the
other side of Heigh am Sounds, a very large sheet of
water. This time of activity, however, is soon over ;
the nuptial plumage then falls off; the bird gives up
the character of Lothario, and seems chiefly to study
how he may most conveniently get fat before his
autumnal migration. Indeed, the collar of long feathers
worn by the ruff in spring, though beautiful, appears
to cause the bird much inconvenience. The flight of a
ruff in full plumage is like that of the fresh-arrived and
tired woodcock, roused early in the morning after a
flight which completed his last stage from Scandinavia ;
it is laboured, slow, and straight. No sooner does the
bird get rid of these appendages than he dashes forward
with all the buoyancy and swiftness of the rest of the
genus. There cannot be a greater contrast than the
swift-glancing, powerftQ flight of the reeve, and the
laboured fettered motions of her partner during the
breeding season." Colonel Montagu was evidently
much struck with the power exhibited by practised
fowlers of distinguishing a ruff amongst the herbage
at an almost incredible distance, but on this point
Mr. Lubbock remarks, "even a novice is surprised at
the distance at which these birds, upright and motion-
less, are visible to the eye."

The " hiU" as it is termed is simply a raised situa-
tion (on the bank of a marsh dyke for instance) upon

described in "The Experienced Fowler" (London, 1704, 18 mo,,
p 5^8) : — " You may shoot a lark or some other bird, take out the
entrails, stuflF him with tow, and dry him in an oven, his wings set
in a flying posture ; and so you may be furnished at all times."

RUFF. 269

wliicli, at the nuptial period, tlie ruffs assemble, and
each, bird taking- up his own position, resents the least
intrusion on his domain, whilst the favors of the reeves
form a further source of contention. Such a congre-
gation is termed a " play of ruffs." The same hill is
not always used, but the birds will " sometimes hill in
one marsh, and the next season resort to a different
situation entirely." Mr. Lubbock, evidently does not
consider their combats as in any degree formidable,
but rather to "threaten great things (as may be seen
amongst dunghill chickens when they ruffle their
feathers at each other without striking) than to perform
much." On one occasion, and one only, he ^' counted
eighteen ruffs upon one ' hill ' in the Potter Heigham
Marshes;" and when thus collected the birds keep
continually "running to and fro, fighting and flut-
tering their wings until they quite flatten down the
grass." If crowded at all on a hill there was con-
tention, "but if there was plenty of room for each
to walk about, they seemed to agree tolerably. The
arrival of a fresh ruff upon a hill where some were already
assembled, always caused unusual confusion for a minute
or two,"^ but he " never heard of a ruff being taken in a
marsh through injuries received in battle."

Of the method adopted for capturing them in the
marshes, and the numbers so taken, Mr. Lubbock
says " nets were never used to take these birds in
Norfolk," but snares made of horsehair, by which means
a local fowler assured him "he once, and once only, took

* In confinement Pennant found the same contention amongst
the males, each bird taking up its own stand in the room as it
would in the fen, and the least encroachment on their respective
circles invariably caused a fight. "They make use of the same
action in fighting as a cock, place their bills to the ground and
spread their rufis." The same thing may be witnessed almost any
year in one of the enclosures in the Zoological Gardens.

270 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

six couples in a morning."* In tlie western Fens,
however, Mr. Newton ascertained that they were both
netted and snared. The formation and disposition of the
snares is thus described bj Mr. Lubbock : — " Having
found the hill, the Norfolk fowler prepares about a dozen
pegs, sharpened at one end and split at the other : into
the spHt he introduces the middle of a loosely -twisted link
of long horse-hair, so as to form two nooses, one with
each half of the link. The peg is then driven into the
ground so as to be perfectly level with the surface, and one
noose is placed horizontally, just raised by the herbage
perhaps half an inch from the soil, whilst the other is
disposed perpendicularly, the lower part resting on the
ground. These snares are disposed on the outskirts of
the hill rather than the middle, as the rufPs in their
flutterings generally spring from the centre towards
the circumference of this chosen spot. When a rufF
is snared he, after an effort or two at escape, gives up
the attempt and crouches quite close to the ground;
the other birds also generally forsake the hill until he
is removed (but this does not invariably take place). A
vigilant look out must be kept upon the place where the
snares are set, if the fowler wishes to reap the fruit of
his labour. The stoat and the brown rat, both of which
are abundant in the marshes, are very quick in dis-
covering the captured birds and devouring them : should
they feed upon one, it is useless to attempt snaring
any more upon that hill, until a trap has given the
intruder a coup de grace."

At the close of the breeding season young and old
used to collect together "in large bodies," as evidenced

* This is nothing compared to the numbers formerly netted
in Lincolnshire. Pennant speaks of forty-four birds taken at one
haul, and six dozen in one morning ; and states that one fowler
would take from forty to fifty dozen in one season.

Kupp. 271

by the fact that Mr. Lubbock once saw seventy or
eighty together in a marsh near Burgh Castle, at the
top of Breydon. These flocks, however, do not appear
to have frequented the ooze like the godwits and cur-
lews, but " the whole of their time was spent in the
marshes," where they preferred a "wet swampy part
of the fen," though in the breeding season they chose
the drier parts.

Both Pennant and Montagu have described at some
leng-th the method of fatting these birds for table, and
the prices given even in former days show the high ap-
preciation in which they were held as a delicacy ; it is
strange, however, that we find no mention of them
either in the Northumberland "Household Book" or
in the " Accounts " of the L'Estranges, of Hunstanton.

In Pennant's time fat rufis would sell for two
shillings or two shillings and sixpence a piece ; and
Montagu found that although a Lincolnshire fen-man
received only ten shillings a dozen, the "feeder" asked
as much as two guineas,"^ and never less than thirty
shillings. In Norfolk Mr. Lubbock gives the price of
freshly caught birds, at the time of his publication
(1845) as six shillings a couple, but says that twenty
years before they fetched only tenpence or a shilling a
piece.

Several couples are not unfrequently to be seen in
the Norwich Market early in May, which have been sent
down from London for sale, but these, as far as I have
been able to ascertain, are all procured in Holland.

* " At the present day," writes Folkard (1864) " the price paid
for fattened ruflfs is often as mucli as four guineas per dozen," but
the system of feeding either ruffs or godwits for the London
market has almost, if not entirely ceased. In Leadenhall Market
black-tailed godwits may now be purchased at eighteen-pence
each and ruffs at a shilling, all imported from Holland.

272 BIEDS OF NOEPOLK.

SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA, Linnfieus.
WOODCOCK.

Mr. Selby's often quoted remarks on the migratory
habits of the Woodcock, as observed more particularly
on the Northumberland coast, agree so nearly with the
experience of our local naturalists, that it is difficult
to describe the habits of this bird in Norfolk without
apparent plagiarism. As the chief prize of the sportsman
also, and the bonne houclie of the epicure, this^ popular
migrant attracts universal attention, indeed its autumnal
and vernal movements, though from widely different
motives, are not less noted than those of the cuckoo,
the nightingale, and the swallow.

The southward migration commences by the end of
September* or beginning of October, when the first
flights reach our shores from their northern breeding
grounds. These almost invariably pass on to the south-
ward or westward after a brief rest, and are followed by
larger bodies at intervals, depending much upon the
vnnd, throughout October and November, the later birds
becoming more resident in our coverts; and even in
December and January fresh flights make their appear-
ance from time to time, but these, as is the case also vrith
the snipe, almost invariably precede or arrive simulta-
neously with severe and stormy weather. On the 4th of
January, 1854, as Mr. Dowell informs me, a flight was
seen at Blakeney during a gale from the north-east with
severe frost and snow, and the same thing was observed
at Tarmouth in January, 1867, during the intense cold

* I find but one or two records either in Mr. Dowell' s or my
own notes of woodcocks killed in September, and those very late
in the month. Thompson (" Birds of Ireland," vol. ii., p. 236), gives
a few rare instances of their appearance in the north of Ireland
towai'ds the end of September, and one as early as the 8th.

WOODCOCK. 273

wliicli prevailed at tliat time. Unusiaal numbers also
occur at times from tlie same cause in the months of
October and November. Their nocturnal migrations
are certainly influenced rather by the wind than the
moon, this species having been found abundant on our
coast, after a dark night, with the wind from the north
or north-east,"^ which agrees exactly with Mr. Selby's
experience that " they always come over in the greatest

* I am well a-vvare, although quite unable to reconcile it with my
own experience, that some naturalists roaintain that our migi-ants
arrive, not with, but against the wind ; in other words that they
prefer facing a strong head wind, and would thus fetch our coast,
from the north of Europe, with the wind from the south or south-
west. But although I can imagine a side wind to be more
favourable than a " stern chaser," I cannot understand a long-
continued flight in the very teeth of the wind being maintained
without great exhaustion and consequent delay on the journey.
In support, however, of this view of migration, Mr. Hele, of Alde-
burgh, Sufiblk, a very observing naturalist, makes the following
statement in the " Field " of November 17th, 1866. " Last Tuesday
whilst fishing along shore, I had a rcost capital view of a wood-
cock 'arriving.' The wind was blowing somewhat freshly from
the north-west, so that the bird was flying directly to windward.
Its speed was most remarkable. I do not remember having seen
it exceeded by any other bird, if equalled [it has been estimated
at one hundi'ed and fifty miles an hour.] The elevation of flight
was about fifteen feet. Two other woodcocks had been seen to
* make land ' a few hours previously." In reply, also, to the com-
ments of a correspondent in the same journal, he writes ("Field,"
December 1st, 1866), "I have been able from actual observation
to satisfy myself that many other species come to us from eastward
during the prevalence of west and north-west winds — namely,
starlings, larks in large flocks, with many smaller bu'ds, which I
have not been fortunate enough to identify ; royston crows, rooks,
and fieldfares ; and of those leaving, the swallows, sand and house-
martins, also swifts, invariably pass towards the south-west at the
time of the wind blowing from that point." This is strong
evidence certainly on the one side, but not more so than can be
readily adduced on the other.
2 N

274 BIED8 or NOEFOLK.

bodies in hazy weather with little wind, and that from
the north-easb." Their condition on arrival, isome being
extremely fat and others very lean, has, I imagine,
but Httle to do with the wind being favourable or not
for their passage, but depends rather upon the effects
of '* short commons," physical weakness at the close
of the breeding season, or even stress of weather in the
country whence they started. From whatever point,
also, of the Scandinavian coast they wing their flight,"^
the passage is, in all probability, performed between
sunset and sunrise, and if the tiny goldcrest survives
the same perilous expedition the woodcock, though
tired by its sustained efforts, need lose little in con-
dition during its eight or ten hours journey.f Too

* In Norfolk, at least, the migration of woodcocks is not, as Bishop
Stanley remarks in his " Familiar History of Bii'ds," " attended
with more mystery than that of most birds," for taking their
starting point to be from the shores of Norway and Sweden, it is
most natural that they should alight, as we know they do, on our
eastern coast. A much more difficult problem, however, to solve
satisfactorily is the statement, on good authority, that in Ireland
(" Birds of Ireland," vol. ii., p. 238) the earhest flights are seen
on the western coast, and the same in the south-west of England — •
in Devon and Cornwall, and in the Scilly Islands. On this point
Bishop Stanley's theory is, I think, the most plausible I have yet
met with, that a flight of these birds having quitted the coast of
Norway about dusk, might in their rapid flight, when high up in
the air, pass unconsciously in the dark hours over the intervening
land, and thus at day-break find themselves "far away to the
westward of Ireland, hovering over the Atlantic." In turning
once more to regain the nearest shore, they would consequently
alight on the west coast of Ireland, the Scilly Islands, or the
south-western coast of England.

•f Selby, in support of his assertion that these birds migrate at
a considerable altitude, to avoid, as he presumes, the lower currents
of air, states that he was informed by a respectable wild fowl
shooter on the coast, that he had more than once seen the arrival
of woodcocks from the north-east at day dawn. His notice was

WOODCOCK. 275

tired, however, to pass on at once to more secure shelter-
particularly those whose powers, as above stated, have
been previously enfeebled — many fall victims to the keen
sportsman, who, from experience knowing when and
where to look for them, turns out early in the morning
to search the marram-banks and fences bordering on the
coast. The Denes and even, as Mr. Lubbock says, " the
kitchen gardens on the outskirts of Yarmouth are some
times, for a few hours, full of these birds ; ten couple
have been killed there by one sportsman." The rough
marine herbage* also on the Blakeney "meals" forms
a like resting place for a time, as well as for the large
flights of blackbirds, that make their appearance on our
coast in October so regularly that the gunners in those
parts are accustomed to search for woodcocks when the
blackbirds are over.f

attracted by a sound high up in the air, which " he found pro-
ceeded from birds descending in a direction almost perpendicular;
and which, upon approaching the shore, separated and flew towards
the interior." Some alighted in the hedges close by, which he
pursued and shot, and these proved to be woodcocks.

* Amongst the plants which here form a shelter for our
feathered migrants, and a grateful relief to the eye after that wide
waste of ooze and shingle, are the remote flowered sea lavender
(Statice hahusiensis) , sea lavender (Statice limonium), seaside
starwort (Aster tripolium) , annual seablite (Suceda marititna),
shrubby seablite (Suceda fruticosa), seacoast wormwood (Absin-
thium maritima), and stalked sea-purslane (Obione portulacoidesj .
Spurn Point on the Yorkshire coast, as we learn from Mr.
Cordeaux (" Zoologist," 1868, p. 1^518), is a similar resting place
for the woodcock and goldcrest in the autnmn, offering like shelter
in the marram grass, sea bind-weed, sea-holly, and thickets of
prickly sallow-thorn.

t The following extract from the "Household Book" of the
L'Estranges, of Hunstanton, seems in a remarkable manner to
confirm the joint arrival of these two species, thus recorded as far
back as 1522. " Itm. pd to Stephyn Percy for ij woodcocks and
iiij blackbyrds, iiij<J- " This is the only instance in which the
2n 2

276 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

On tte 8tli of October, 1856, Mr. Dowell and a Mend
sliot twelve woodcocks on tlie Blakenej sand-meals,
beginning only at two o'clock in tbe afternoon, and
therefore looking over only part of tlie ground ; the
previous night had been thick and rainy, with the wind
north by east. He has also known Overton, the gunner,
kill three and fonr couples a day, at such times, on the
beach and sand-hills, having fallen in with a fresh flighty
but, as a rule, on the next morning not a bird is to be
found.

Like most nocturnal migrants the woodcock is
attracted in its flight by any glare of light, and thus
examples are not unfrequently picked up dead during
the autumn months at the foot of our lighthouses, killed
by their contact with the windows above, of which
instances have come to my knowledge at Cromer,^ Hun-
blackbird is mentioned in tbese accounts, and bein^ entered
in the thirty-ninth week after the eighth of February, the date
would fall about the first week in November. Pennant, also,
gives some interesting particulars of the arrival and departure
• of woodcocks on the Suifolk coast from the observations of Sir
John Cullum, Bart., most of which are equally applicable to this
county. Amongst others it is stated that esamjjles have been
taken up exhausted in the streets at Southwold; and that "when
the redwing appears on the coast in autumn, it is certain the
woodcocks are at hand ; when the Royston crow, they are come."
In like manner the redwings are the harbingers of their retui'n in
spring.

* The Rev. W. B. Daniel in his " Rural Sports " (vol. iii.,
p. 159) makes special reference to the fact of woodcocks being
thus attracted, and says that many instances have occurred at
the Cromer and Eddy stone lighthouses. He also states that in 1796,
at the lighthouse on the hill of Howth, a pane of plate glass more
than three-eighths of an inch thick was suddenly smashed by a
woodcock flying against it with such violence as to break its bill,
head, breastbone, and both wings. Bishop Stanley says also that,
" no less than five woodcocks have killed themselves in a similar
manner against the plate glasses of the South-Stack light-house, iu
Anglesey." See also Mr. Cordcaux's account (" Zoologist," 1867,

WOODCOCK. 277

Stanton, and Hasborough. A fine woodcock in my own
collection met its death in a somewhat similar manner
close to this city. It was found on the 23rd of October,
1858, against the wall of Mi\ Towler's residence,
adjoining Park Lane ; and in this instance, no doubt,
the lamps on TJnthank's Eoad, which passes in front
of the house, had so dazzled it that the next instant
it dashed with full force against the front of the
building. On examining it soon after it was picked
up, I found the frontal bone completely smashed
in. Others are also, occasionally, found dead under
the telegraph wires,"^ having flown against them in their
migratory course, and some, I imagine, meet with a like
fate in their ordinary nocturnal Sittings. On one or two
occasions I have had freshly killed woodcocks offered me
for sale by the porters at the stations between Norwich
and Yarmouth, or by men at work on the line, which,
in such a locality, are very likely to have been thus
suddenly arrested in their flight from the woods on the
one side to their marshy feeding-grounds on the other
side of the railroad.f In "The Naturalist." for 1853

p. 1011) of woodcocks, wild ducks, snipes, gold-crested wrens, &c.,
being picked up dead on the balcony of the Flamborough light-
house. The light keeper informed him that " the woodcocks
usually arrived with a north or north-east wind. Had once seen
some arrive during the day."

* A still more remarkable occurrence was recorded in the
" Zoologist " for 1866 (p. 271), by Mr. A. P. Smith, of Ipswich—
namely, the death of a woodcock, from being impaled on the arrow
end of a weathercock on one of the churches of that town, when
passing ovei*, it was presumed with others, on a dark night.

t A correspondent in the " Field " of March •21st, 1868, gives
a remarkable instance of the serious injury which a bird of this
kind may sustain through contact with the wires, and yet survive
the blow. In this case " an extreme lacerated wound extended
from the junction of the neck with the body in an oblique direction
across the breast from the left to the right side, separating all the
pectoral muscles from theu' insertions into the keel of the sternum,

278 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

(p. 19), Mr. Thomas Southwell recorded the capture
of a woodcock alive, on the 9th of October, at Lynn,
under the following curious circumstances : — The door
of an iron warehouse in that town having been left open
until half-past six on the previous evening, a porter on
entering in the morning found a strange bird, that
proved to be of this species, perched on one of the
stoves, and which allowed itself to be taken by hand
though in good health and condition. In like manner, as
Mr. Dowell informs me, a woodcock in broad daylight,
on the 13th of October, 1849, flew into a fisherman's
cottage at Blakeney, and settled in the chimney comer ;
and on the 7th of November, 1867, one was caught
alive in Broad Street, Lynn, about ten o'clock in the
morning.

With the exception only of that portion of our coast
line, bordering upon the "Broad" district, our exten-
sive seaboard presents an almost continuous range of
woods and plantations in close vicinity to the shore,"^

cutting througli the upper portion of the sternum, and exposing
the pericardium and pleura." The bird appeared to be in a fair
way of recovery. Mr. Alfred Newton tells me that by the
side of the road, along which telegraph wires run, between
Halifax and Windsor, in Nova Scotia, he found an example of
the American woodcock (Scolopax americana) , which had both
wings and legs broken, and though it was in the afternoon and
the bird had probably received its injuries in the night, it was
still alive.

* Commencing with the shores of the "Wash, and within a short
flight from the coast, are the Sandringham coverts, the " Kenhill "
wood at Snettisham (always famous for cocks), the park and woods
at Hunstanton and Holkham; and still further inland the far-
famed coverts of Melton Constable and Swanton Novers ; whilst
from Salthouse to Hasborough, with but little interval, the woods
at Letheringsett, Hempstead, Sherringham, Beeston, Cromer Hall,
Felbrigg, and Northrepps, on the coast, with Barningham,
Blickling, and Gunton, within a few miles, have all more or less
attractions for woodcocks, and in most of them large numbers have
been killed.

WOODCOCK. 279

thus affording immediate shelter to these autumnal
migrants ; while at the same time a fair sprinkling of
cocks may be found, in most seasons, frequenting the
moist carrs and thickets of alder, willow, and birch,
that fringe the margins of the broads themselves."^ But
although, as might be expected, the coverts near the
coast— especially those of Lord Hastings's, at Melton
Constable and Swanton Novers, afford the largest bags,
these birds are very generally distributed over the
county; and around Norwich are found in various
localities in close vicinity to the city.

What proportion the numbers that now visit this
county in favourable seasons may bear to the migra-
tions of former times, I have no means of ascertaining
with any degree of accuracy, although an examination
of the game books, so carefully preserved for years on
our larger estates, would, I beheve, throw much light
upon this as well as many other subjects of deep interest
to the sportsman and naturalist. In proof of this, I
may subjoin the following abstract sent me by Mr.
Alfred Newton from the game books kept at Elveden,
on the borders of this county. Mean number of wood-
cocks killed in the five seasons ending

February 1st, 1818 9-2

1823 13-2

„ 1828 18-4

1833 19-8

February 1st, 1838 27-6

1843 26-2

1848 35-0

1853 40-2

Or if we take decennial intervals, we shall find the
mean for the ten seasons ending

1823 to be 11-2 I 1843 to be 26-9

1833 „ 18-1 I 1853 „ 37-1

* A year or two back a woodcock was killed on Surlingham
Broad, during the day time, from amongst the small bushes on
the open marsh. This was considered as an almost unprecedented
circumstance in that neighbourhood.

280 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

The seasons of 1815-16, 1816-17, 1828-29, 1829-30,
and 1838-39, seem to have been of unusual scarcity;
while those of 1817-18, 1825-26, 1834-35, 1843-44, and
1849-50 have been of abundance to a greater or less
degree.

In the days when " glade nets " stretched across the
openings, or ^' cock roads " in the woods were exten-
sively used for taking them during their evening flight,
and springes and snares were ahke fatal in their marshy
feeding grounds, there is no question that this species
was extremely abundant; and of this we have also
additional evidence from the small sums which they
formerly fetched in the market'^ allowing even for the
difference in the present value of money, whilst their
excellence as a table delicacyf was as fully appreciated
then as now. The causes of their diminution, how-
ever, must be looked for rather in other countries than
our own^ and whilst two such authorities as Mr. Lloyd

* In the Duke of Buckingham's "Household Book," 1507,
eight woodcocks cost eightpence, and sixteen ditto sixteen-pence.
In the "Household Accounts" of the Lord N'oith (time of
Henry the VIII.), it is ordered " that woodcokes be hade for my
Lordes own Mees and non other, and to be at j<l- a pece or j<J- ob.
(l|d.) at the moste," the same price as lapwings and sea gulls,
whilst pheasants, bitterns, and curlews were then a shilling each,
spoonbills sixpence, quails and partridges twopence, and snipes
three for a penny. In the L'Estrange " Accounts," also, we find an
entry in the year 1620, of three woodcocks purchased in Snettisham
market for sixpence; and in 1522 of six purchased from John Long,
of Ingoldisthorpe, for tenpence.

t In Willughby's " Ornithology," published by Bay (1628),
occurs the following passage with respect to the woodcock : — " The
flesh of this bird for the delicacy of its taste is in high esteem ; "
and with special reference to the excellence of the leg, the author
quotes the old " English Bhythm" —

" If the partridge had the woodcock's thigh,
T'would be the best bird that ever did fly."

WOODCOCK. 281

and Mr. Knox* deprecate altogether the assertion of
some authors that this is mainly caused by their eggs
being extensively taken in Sweden for edible purposes,
(like those of the lapwing in England), the scarcity being
attributed by Mr. Elnox to an undue slaughter, not in
the north but in the south of Europe. In support of this
view he instances the enormous bags made, chiefly by
British sportsmen, on the shores of the Mediterranean
and of the Adriatic, giving as the grand total of six
days' shooting in the winter of 1844-5 — at Butrinto and
on the Acheron and Achelous rivers — the prodigious
quantity of one thousand and twenty-six woodcocks
killed. On the other hand, we must remember that
shooting birds in vmiter does not appreciably affect the
stock that is left. All that such shooting does is to
consume the annual increase of the species for the year.
Some more valid cause must, therefore, be assigned for
the decrease of woodcocks in England, if decrease there
really be. That cause is not far to seek. In Sweden
and Norway a practice much more destructive than
egging obtains — that of shooting the birds immediately
on their arrival in those countries, and throughout the
breeding season, from the end of April till the middle of
June. At that time of the year it is, unfortunately, the
habit of the woodcock, evening after evening, to fly
backwards and forwards over the same spot, and this in
the bright summer twihght of those northern countries.
Particular places are thus haunted by many birds, which
further, by a most peculiar note, uttered on the vnng,
attract attention to the spot. Consequently the so-called
'' sportsmen" of the district repair to such a place, and
the flight of the birds being then very steady, though
extremely swift, many fall victims to this atrocious

* Lloyd's " Northem Field Sports " and Knox's " Game Birds
and Wild Fowl."
2o

282 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

practice. The wonder is that any escape, and it is only
owing to the vast extent of the Scandinavian forests
and their thin population that any do so. From the
Swedish word (roa, to play, impf. roade), which
expresses this habit, comes the term "reading," used
by many Enghshmen in Scandinavia, and thus. Wheel-
wright, in his " Ten years in Sweden" (p. 195), says,
"I generally shoot them [woodcocks] here when they
are reading, and in a good stand can often kill three
or four in an evening. A friend in Gothenburg wrote
me word that, in the spring of 1864, he killed forty
woodcocks round that place when they first came over."

With us, no doubt, the changes which have taken
place, during the last fifty or sixty years, in the cultiva-
tion of waste lands, many hundred acres of heath, wood,
and fen having been alike subject to the plough, with
the thinning of hedgerows and field timber generally,
have materially lessened the attractions of the soil;
and at the same time the strict preservation of game,
with the requirements of the "battue," make it im-
possible to arrive at any satisfactory estimate of the
numbers that now visit us in an average season.

On all those estates where a considerable head of
game is reared for, probably at most, only three or four
days' sport towards the close of the year, the woods are
necessarily kept quiet until that period arrives; and
thus, although many flights of woodcocks from the
beginning of October may have rested there for awhile
and passed on scathless to more southern quarters, it
is quite possible that the very week of the "grand
battue" may produce only a few stragglers that have
located themselves for the winter. Of course the reverse
of this picture occurs at times, when severe weather
about Christmas has driven the cocks into close
cover; still the great bags made during some seasons
in Ireland, as recorded by Thompson and other authors.

WOODCOCK. 283

are tlie result of repeated visits to the most likely
spots, between October and March.. By the same
means, at Hempstead, near Holt, a very favourite resort
in this county, from one hundred to one hundred and
fifty cocks have been killed in one year, and yet
comparatively few in other seasons, when the same
coverts have been entered only for battue purposes.
In such woods, also, the sportsman, who walks with
the beaters and takes his chance in the "high fell"
will bag more cocks to his own gun, if a good " snap '*
shot, than all the rest of the party, though posted
in convenient drives or other openings.

With the woodcock also, as with the snipe, there
seems to be a strange partiality for certain localities.
There are few sportsmen who cannot re-call some
favoured spot where, year after year, a woodcock was
to be found in due season, and whose place, if killed, was
almost sure to be taken by another. Mr. J. H. Gurney
tells me that he remembers, many years ago, when the
late Rev. Robert Hankinson occupied Bilney Hall, near
Lynn, being told that there was a remarkable place of
this kind on the grounds attached to that house. The
attraction in such cases being, no doubt, some peculiar
adaptability of the aspect, soil, and leafy shelter."^

Some years are certainly noticeable for the scarcity
of woodcocks as others for their abundance ; but of the
latter, the most remarkable of late have been the
autumns of 1852 and 1858, and the last three or four
seasons have been all more or less favourable. In
the memorable "flood year" (1852), amongst other

* Sir Humpkrey 'D&yj {" Salmonia," p. 332, 2nd edit.) remarks,
" A laurel or a holly bush is a favourite place for their repose :
the thick varnished leaves of these trees prevent the radiation of
heat from the soil, and they are less affected by the refrigerating
influence of a clear sky ; so that they afford a warm seat for the
woodcock."
2o2

284 BIED8 OF NORFOLK.

ornithological phenomena, an almost unprecedented
quantity of cocks were killed in the month of December.
Mr. Alfred Newton, who took some pains at the time
to ascertain the numbers shot in different localities,
states ("Zoologist" 1853, p. 3754), that "in the first
week in December thirty and thirty-three were respec-
tively killed, on two successive days, at Melton Con-
stable, near Holt; and on the next day the same
shooting party bagged ninety-three in the Great Wood
at Swanton Novers." He was also informed on good
authority that "no such number as this last had been
seen there for twenty years ; and further, that at least
one hundred and ten might have been killed if the
other game had been disregarded." These coverts are
always reckoned as the best in Norfolk for woodcocks,
but at other likely spots near the coast considerable bags
were made. At Felbrigg, says Mr. Newton, "twenty-
seven, thirty, fifteen, and twenty-one respectively were
killed on four days in the second and third weeks o'f
December;" and at Holkham "twenty-nine in one
day about the same time." Mr. Newton, however,
gives reasons for believing that in this instance the
increase was rather local than general, possibly induced
by the flooded state at the time of a considerable
portion of the county, and that such was the case
seems the more likely from the fact that the amount
killed in some parts of Suffolk, usually considered
extremely favourable for this species, was far below
the average. Considering, also, as before stated, that
many annually resort to the low carrs and planta-
tions in the neighbourhood of the broads, it is quite
possible that these, when driven from that district by
the rising of the waters, collected in large bodies on
the higher grounds, whilst fresh arrivals on the coast
had no inducement to disperse themselves further over
the county.

WOODCOCK. 285

In 1858 the numbers that Tisited us were easily
accounted for by the severe and lasting frosts which
immediately succeeded their arrival. Snipes were plen-
tiful at the same time, and the quantities of siskins,
redpoles, and twites indicated a more than usual amount
of cold in more northern countries. At this time, in the
same wood at Swanton, where so many were shot in
1852, eighty-three woodcocks were killed in one day
in the second week of November. In the autumn and
winter of 1864, the weather being somewhat severe,
a very large number appeared on our coast, and at
least one hundred couples, as I was informed at the
time, were then killed in the coverts at Melton and
Swanton. Mr. T. E. Gunn also states in the "Zoolo-
gist" for 1865 (p. 9468), that during the previous
autumn scarcely a week passed that he did not see
a dozen woodcocks hanging for sale in the Norwich
Market, and that he heard of sixty-one having been
killed about the last week in November, in a single
wood at Gressenhall. Again in the years 1865, 1866,
and 1867, very considerable flights reached us late in
the autumn. In the former year, though rather a mild
season, about one hundred and fifty-five were said
to have been killed at Swanton and Melton in four
days' shooting ; sixty-seven in one day, and fifty-seven
from Swanton wood alone.^ In 1867, ia the same
woods, fiffcy-one were shot in one week in November,
just prior to the commencement of very severe frosts.

The return of the woodcocks in the spring of the
year, which usually occurs in March, is, comparatively
speaking, but Httle noticed.f The shooting season being

* See " Field," January 6th, 1866.

t " The nearest approach I ever saw," writes Mr. Lubbock,
" to the migration of this bird from England, was on the 10th of
March, 1824 : a pair of woodcocks passed across the road near
Caistor, within a few yards of me, flying one behind another
dii-ectly for the beach, which was within a quarter of a mile."

286 BIRDS. OF NOEFOLK.

then over, with the exception of a few couples chiefly
shot by the gamekeepers, their brief rest in our coverts
is but little disturbed. Considering, however, that at
this time they are no longer a delicacy for the table,
their flesh being dry and flavourless, and that every
year proves them more and more inclined to remain
with us to breed, it is greatly to be regretted that both
woodcock and snipe should not be included in the list of
game, protected from further persecution after the 2nd
of February. For several years past I have invariably
seen one or more woodcocks hanging for sale in the
Norwich fishmarket during the first and second week
in April, birds which, there is no doubt, would have
bred in this county, if indeed they had not already
either eggs or young. Mr. Anthony Hamond, jun.,
the master of the West Norfolk Foxhounds, also assures
me that during his last week's hunting, at the end of
March, 1869, he saw some twenty or thirty woodcocks
in different coverts nearly always in pairs, whilst at
that time of year he has seen them sitting on their
.eggs in the North-west of Scotland."^

Here, too, may be remarked that amongst the many
strange incidents connected with the history of this
species, is the fact that although as migrants their
numbers have greatly diminished, yet the tendency to
remain and breed in this country seems as much on
the increase. That this is attributable in a great
degree to the extensive system of planting adopted of
late years, both here and in Scotland, more particularly
of larch, spruce, and other firs, seems generally ad-
mitted ;t yet from a few records remaining of wood-

* Mr. St. John (" Wild Sports in the Highlands," p, 220), states
that he had three eggs brought him on the 9th of March, 1846 :
and a nearly full grown young one in the second week of April,
18'M.

t Mr. Hewitson ("Eggs of British Birds," vol. ii., 3rd ed.,

WOODCOCK. 287

cocks* nests discovered many years ago, it seems
probable that if in those days as much attention had
been devoted to the habits of birds, as at the present
time, still more instances would have been forthcoming.
Mr. Lubbock speaks of a nest discovered in 1827, " in
a wet low carr in the parish of Hickling. The old bird
was killed by a stoat, on her nest, and the eggs sucked,"
but, he adds, "her wings, however, which were shown
by the person who discovered the nest, prevented the
possibility of mistake as to the species." The same
author also states (1845) "that three young woodcocks
were taken in Brooke wood a few years back." In 1848
Mr. Alfred Newton recorded in the "Zoologist" (p.
2148) the finding of a nest with four eggs, at Riddles-
worth, near Harling, by a man cutting reeds, about the
middle of April, and the eggs when blown appeared to
have been set upon about a week. In the same year, also,
according to Messrs. Gurney and Fisher (" Zoologist,"
p. 2185) another nest containing four young was found
at Rainham, near Fakenham, on the 2nd of May ; and
Mr. Southwell informs me that he has eggs in his collec-
tion from the neighbourhood of Holt. A pair of' old
birds with nestlings, in Mr. Gurney's possession, were

p. 349), from ids own observations on tlie breeding of the woodcock
in tbe forests of Norway, says, " in these it chooses those places
for its nest from which the trees have been cut down, on the out-
skirts of the forest, and bordering upon the cultivated districts
and the banks of the rivers. Whilst there we had the pleasure of
taking its eggs, which were placed upon the bare ground, under
some brushwood, and in a place from which the timber had been
cleared, and in which the young spruce fir-trees were again springing."
From this we may presume that our young fir-coverts are far more
suited to their breeding habits than were the old oak-woods and
hazel-copses of which so few now remain, having been stubbed up
and cultivated or entirely replanted. These, however, from their
dense undergrowth and leafy shelter, had peculiar attractions for
them in autumn and winter.

288 BIHDS OF NOErOLK.

taken some years since at Stratton Strawless;"^ and in
Lord Hastings's collection is a case containing a pair of
old birds and tliree young ones, which were hatched at
Melton Constable, but the exact date is not known. Mr.
Lambert, gamekeeper on the Kimberley estate, assures
me that at least forty years ago he knew of a wood-
cock's nest in the woods at Blickling ; another was seen
about three years back at Hempstead, by Mr. Thomas
Edwards ; and some twenty years since, as I learn from
Mr. Southwell, the shells of woodcocks' eggs, in a nest
which the young had just left, were found at Bawsey,
by Mr. Burlingham, of Lynn. At Fakenham Wood, in '
Suffolk, but not very far from the border, Mr. A. l!^ewton
has heard of woodcocks breeding more than once, though
some twenty years ago. From Culford he has also a
nest with a rotten egg, taken after the others had
hatched, iu 1867. The nest is a deep cup of dry oak
and Spanish chestnut leaves.

Of more recent date the following are all that have
eome under my own notice, but I doubt not that further
.enquiries would elicit even more instances : —

On the 2nd of May, 1851, a pair of young birds
about three weeks old were sent up to Norwich for
preservation, taken at Holkham; and a third nestling
was kept alive for several weeks, but from want of
caution in feeding itself was choked, as supposed, by
the ''diet" of worms. About the same time a game-
keeper at Brooke, flushed an old woodcock and four
young ones, and succeeded in catching two of the latter.
On the 17 th of May also of that year, I saw a fine old
bird, quite fresh, hanging up for sale in our fishmarket.

* Morris in his " British Birds " (vol. iv., p. 254) states that a
woodcock was shot at Mr. Marsham's, of Stratton Strawless, in
Norfolk, about the 7th of June, 1847. The same fact is also
recorded in the " Zoologist " for that year (p. 1876) by the Eev.
H. T. Frere.

WOODCOCK. 289

In 1853, three eggs (wliich liad been incubated about
half their time) were found on the 14th of April, in the
Mill Carr, near Buckenham House, then the property of
the Hon. F. Baring (subsequently Lord Ashburton) and
brought to Mr. Alfred Newton. These were small
and rather singularly marked examples, as may be seen
by the representation of one of them in the last edition
of Mr. Hewitson's work (pi. xcvi., fig. 1.) On the 6th
of May, of the same year, two young birds in the
down, were taken from a nest at Cossey. These pretty
little creatures were kept alive for some weeks in a
patent hydro-incubator at that time exhibiting in
Norwich, and appeared to thrive well in its artificial
warmth, but were afterwards killed for stuffing, when
sufficiently fledged. A few days later a nest of four
eggs, richly blotched with brown, was found at Swafield.
Three of these passed into the possession of Mr. J. H.
Gurney, and one is now in my own collection. One or
two nests were, I believe, also found about the same
time at Holkham.

In 1854 several woodcocks were seen at Ranworth as
late as the 26th of April, but no nest was found in that
neighbourhood, and in 1859 a single bird was flushed on
the 10th of May, in a plantation at Spixworth, but was
not observed there afterwards. On the 28th of April,
however, of the latter year, a nest was found in a valley
planted with birch and oak, near the Beeston hills,
about two hundred yards from " Larry's cottage," a weU
known locahty in the vicinity of Cromer.'^ The bird was
flushed by a boy passing near, who at once detected the
nest on the ground, covered vdth seared leaves and
dried ferns. It contained four eggs, two of which were
hatched on the 19th of May, the other two being left

* The same, I have no doubt, recorded in the " Zoologist " for
1859 (p. 6562.)
2 p

290 BIKDS OF NORFOLK.

with the broken pieces, and from that time neither
parent nor young* were again seen. In spite of the
intrusions of various spectators, the poor bird sat very
closely, and even allowed itself to be photographed on
the nest by Mr. S. G. Buxton, without evincing any
particular alarm. According to the statement of Dr.
Fitch, who watched her through a glass, and to whom I
am indebted for the above particulars, " she rested her
bill apparently on the ground, with her large and
prominent eye very wide open," and in this case a
small rill and several little pits of water were situated
within about one hundred and fifty yards of the spot
selected.

In the second week of April, 1860, a nest with four
eggs was taken at Taverham, and on the 6th of May,
1861, two young birds, partially feathered, were sent up
to Norwich to be stuffed, which had been captured on
Mr. Bedingfeld's property at Ditchingham.

Again in April, 1862, I was informed that one or
more pairs were supposed to be breeding at Taverham,
which I have no doubt was correct, as an old bird was
flushed there on the 1st of June, but the coverts being
kept quiet on account of the game, no search was made
for the nests. A pair were also seen at Kimberley, by
Mr. Lambert, about the 6th of April of that year.

In 1864, Mr. Southwell received eggs of this species
taken somewhere in the neighbourhood of Fakenham;
and a single bird was flushed in Catton Park, near
Norwich, as late as the second week in April.

On the 4th of May, 1867, I was told by Mr. P.
Norgate, of Sparham, that he knew of a woodcock's
nest, at Attlebridge, about eight miles from Norwich,
on Mr. Micklethwait's property, where others have,
I understand, been seen in previous years; and a
correspondent in " Science Gossip " for 1866 (p. 88),
signing himself " E, A., Norwich," states that in the

WOODCOCK. 291

previous summer, at Attlebridge, Mr. Miclvlethwait's
gamekeeper found five or six nests, and '' this was
not an exceptional case, as for several years past lie
had been aware that some were to be found, and even
captured a young one."

On the 6th of May, 1867, a pair of woodcocks were
seen in a low moist carr close to Hoveton Broad, but
no nest was discovered ; and on the 17th of that month
a nestling was sent up to Norwich to be stuffed, which,
with three others, had been hatched on Mr. H. N.
Burroughes's estate at Burlingham.

Last of all, to my knowledge, up to the present time,
a nest with two eggs was found in a plantation at
Bixley, near Norwich, about the 24th of April, 1868,
and in this case, also, the bird allowed itself to be
photographed on its nest* by Mr. John Gurney, of
Earlham, and eventually brought off her young ones.

From such repeated instances, then, of the breeding
of the woodcock, there can be no question that were
they protected in the early spring, the number that now
remain with us throughout the summer would be greatly
increased, and while the same birds would return again
and againf to their accustomed haunts, as do other

* The extreme tameness of the brooding woodcock is mentioned
by Pennant, who states that " a person who discovered one on
its nest, has often stood over and even stroked it : notwithstand-
ing which it hatched the young, and in due time disappeared with
them." It seems, also, in former days to have ranked with the
dotterel as a foolish bird, for in Willughby's " Ornithology" it is
remarked, that "amongst us in England this bird is infamous
for its simplicity or folly ; so that a woodcock is proverbially used
for a simple, foolish person."

* Of the attachment for, and return to, any particular spot
evinced by the woodcock, two remarkable instances are given in
Daniel's "Rural Sports." In 1798, a woodcock caught alive in
a rabbit net was turned loose with a brass ring on its left leg.
This occurred in February, and in the following December the

2p2

292 BIEDS OF NORFOLK.

migrants tliat annually visit us in tlie breeding season,
a local race, as it were, would ere long be established.

From Mr. St. Jobn's observations on the breeding of
the woodcock in Scotland, this species appears to have
more than one brood in the year, as he found their
nests at any time between March and August, but from
the entire absence of these birds from the woods early
in the autumn, he was led to believe that all that are
bred in that country emigrate with their parents about
the beginning of September. Such also appears to be
the case in Norfolk, as neither yoiuig nor old have been
observed from the beginning of August to the close
of the following month. I am not aware that the
method adopted by the woodcock for carrying its young
in the dusk of the evening from their nests in the woods
to some moist feeding ground has ever been remarked
in this county, but this interesting fact has been fuUy
established on the authority of many trustworthy
observers. St. John ascertained that " the old bird lifts
her young in her feet,"^ and carries them one by one ;'*
and Mr. A. Hamond, jun., of Westacre, informs me
that when in company with a friend and a gamekeeper,
at Shielda, near Dingwall, in Ross-shire, he saw a
woodcock in the act of carrying a young one in its claws
for some distance. The old bird then returned, and
clucked about like a hen to draw the rest of the brood

same bird was shot in the same wood where it was first captured.
Again, in February, 1802, another woodcock, captured in the same
locaHty, was turned off with a tin ring attached to its leg, and the
same bird was killed in the same wood, on the 11th of December
following.

* The editor of the " Ibis " (1868, p. 109) in reviewing a mono-
graph of the woodcock, published in German, by Dr. Julius Hoffman,
wherein this habit of transporting the young is referred to, re-
marks, " a friend of ours assures us it is effected by the parent
grasping the young between the tarsi, and holding at the same
time the bill downwards and backwards under the young bird."

WOODCOCK. 293

to her. His friend had observed the same proceeding
on several occasions.

Space will not admit of my referring at any great
length to that much vexed question, the possibility of
accurately determining the sexes of woodcocks through
size and plumage, but Mr. Gould, who has had unusual
opportunities for investigating this point, and has
dissected, measured, and weighed, several hundred
specimens, asserts in his work on " The Birds of Great
Britain," that at the end of a day's shooting, he is
still unable to say with certainty, from external features
only, which are males and which females. This he
attributes to the fact of there being two distinct races — •
large and small (as occurs in many other birds) though
not admitting of specific rank, and adds, "during their
vernal migration these races generally keep separate
from each other, and some flights will be composed of
a small red race, while others will be exclusively large
dark grey birds." As with the common snipe, "the
male is undoubtedly the larger bird " ; such he believes
to be the case with the woodcock, " if there be any
difference between the sexes," but on dissection he
has proved " that many of the long-billed birds are
females." As to the outer primary of the wing forming
a sexual distinction as supposed by some sportsmen, —
the males being said to have the external margin of that
feather plain or devoid of tooth-like markings, whilst the
same feather in females exhibits such markings, Mr.
Gould thus disposes of that theory from his own experi-
ence. "They [the tooth-like markings] are absent in
both sexes of very old birds j for I have wings of females
in my collection in which the outer margin of the first
primary is totally devoid of the toothed character.
"When the young woodcock assumes his fi^rst primaries,
which he does at the age of two or three weeks, the
outer feather is strongly marked ; as he grows older

294 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

this feature gradually disappears ; and I have frequently-
seen specimens with, the outer primary toothed for half
its length, and the other part plain." Mr. Gonld also
gives a table showing the difference in the length of wing
(measured from the carpal joint to the end of the first
primary), as well as in the weight of twelve male and
twelve female woodcocks, selected indiscriminately from
the large and small races, and from which it appears that
the wings of the twelve males " amount to eighty-nine
inches, and their weight to one hundred and forty-two
and three-quarter ounces; while the wings of the females
are eighty-seven and a quarter inches, and their weight
one hundred and thirty-five ounces ; consequently the
excess of the length of the wing in the twelve males is
one and three-quarter inches, and of their weight seven
and three-quarter ounces." He also believes " the males
have generally the shorter bill, the longer wing, and
the finer tail, while the rump of this sex is more red
and the barrings of the under surface of the body more
distinct. Much difference also occurs in the colouring
• of the legs of the woodcocks, some being olive or leaden
white, while others are pale yellow." After weighing
a very large number of specimens of both the large
and small races, he arrives at the conclusion that " the
weight of seventy out of eighty birds in fair condition
will range between eleven and fourteen ounces ;* of the
other ten some will be lighter and others heavier.
Light birds vary from nine to nine and a half and ten
ounces." It is a very large bird that weighs fifteen
ounces, and an extraordinary one that reaches sixteen

* Three remarkably fine woodcocks in the collection of Mr.
Ovrles, of Yarmouth, netted a few years since in the month of
January, at Mettingham, near Bungay, weighed together thu'ty-
nine ounces and two drams, the largest being just fourteen ounces.
These were taken at night in a stubble field with a common lark
net.

WOODCOCK. 295

oimces.* Monster woodcocks, however, of even greater
weight than sixteen ounces have been recorded at
various times, and amongst others Yarrell mentions a
truly gigantic bird said to have been killed about the
year 1775, in the long plantation at Nar borough in
this county. The particulars respecting it, supplied to
him for publication by the then Lord Braybrooke, are
contained in a letter from Lady Peyton to Miss Hoste
in 1801. Having described its being shot during a deep
snow, whilst perched on a very low branch of a spmce
fir, weighed down to the ground, her ladyship remarks,
" I saw it weighed both in scales and steelyards, as did
Sir Henry and a carpenter at work from SwafFham, and
wonderful as the weight may appear it was exactly
twenty-seven ounces. I beheve it was about 1775 or
1776. Some years before that a woodcock was killed
at Hadleigh, in Suffolk, which weighed twenty-four
ounces." Lord Braybrooke also referring to another
large bird observed in this county, says, "the Earl of
Leicester told me that he, in company with Mr. Ealf
Dutton, when they were young men, followed a gigantic
looking woodcock for some hours, near Holkham, but
could not get at him." In the two first instances the
weight is so extraordinary that in spite of the apparent
authentication, one cannot help suspecting some error
or deception in both cases.

Pied and other varieties are occasionally, but not
often, met with, and are, therefore, eagerly sought
after when once seen. The most beautiful specimen
I ever saw was killed at Hanworth, near Aylsham,
on the 6th of November, 1856. Like one described

* Sir Thomas Browne (Wilkin's edition, vol. iv., p. 380) has
the following memorandum in his " Common Place Book :" " A
woodcock in the total, weighed twelve ounces, and the feathers
weighed three-quarters of an ounce."

296 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

by Mr. Edward Newman in tlie " Zoologist " for 1855,
(p. 4631), all tlie markings peculiar to tlie woodcock
in its usual plumage were in this bird more or less
faintly indicated by tbe most delicate buff or fawn
tint on a ground of white, whilst those parts which
in the normal colouring of the species are deepest, were
here also most plainly discernable. The whole of the
under parts were white, yet still showing the usual bars
when closely examined, resembling the faintest water
markings, visible only in the strongest light. On the
16th of November, 1864, a curiously pied bird, now in the
possession of Lord Hastings, was shot at Melton Con-
stable. In this specimen all the primaries of one wing,
except the fourth, and the wing- coverts, were pure
white, and in the other wing the three first primaries
and one or two feathers in the coverts ; the rest of
the plumage being of the usual tint. On the 17th of
March, 1859, a woodcock was also killed near Lowestoft,
in Suffolk, having the back and wings thickly sprinkled
with white feathers, as were also the sides of the neck
.and the under parts generally.

Selby mentions the exquisite sense of touch possessed
by this and allied species from the nervous apparatus
distributed over the anterior portion of the beak,
enabling them to detect their food unerringly when
boring deep in the soil, and also the power of expand-
ing the tips of the mandibles, in order to seize and
draw out their prey, but as far as the upper mandible,
at least, is concerned, this strange faculty appears
to be developed in a remarkable manner in the wood-
cock. Mr. F. Norgate, of Sparham, on one occasion
having slightly winged a woodcock took it home
alive, and he assures me that the flexibility of the
upper mandible was so great that it resembled more
the writhings of a worm than a beak, and from the
slight sketch, with which he furnished me at the time.

WOODCOCK. 297

its Tipward curling is suggestive of that most sensitive
organ of touch, the proboscis of an Elephant.* Their
food consists chiefly of worms, of which they consume
immense quantities, and, as with the snipe, the " borings
may be frequently detected in their moist feeding
grounds. In the breeding season the woodcock utters
a curious squeaking note when taking its evening
flight, but in the autumn and winter it but rarely
emits any cry when flushed by the sportsman, though
the peculiar noise made by the bird (probably with its
vrings) in rising, when once heard is never to be
forgotten. Mr. S. Bligh informs me that he once
came upon a woodcock so suddenly at Framingham,
near Norwich, that, on rising, it uttered a peculiarly
shrill cry of alarm.

The folio-wing curious fact also with regard to this
species which I have not elsewhere met with, is recorded
by Mr. Gould, on the authority of Captain Murray
Aynsley. That gentleman, when shooting in the coverts
at Alnwick, in Northumberland, observed a woodcock
pitch down within eight yards of him on the opposite
side of a fence where the ground was bare, with the
exception of a few leaves. These the bird, on alighting,
threw over its back with its beak, squatting close to the
ground all the time, and was more than half covered
when the beaters came up ; nor did it attempt to rise
until flushed by a dog.

Of course no history of the woodcock in Norfolk
would be deemed complete without some reference to
the memorable exploit of Sir Francis Chantrey, in killing
two birds at one shot, when shooting at Holkham ; for,
although this feat has been accomplished by other
sportsmen, the artistic celebrity of the performer, and
the monument erected by himself to the memory of his

* The voluntary upward movement of the upper mandible in
the woodcock is described at some length, and illustrated by a
wood engraving, in Dr. Hoffman's monograph above mentioned.

2q

298 BIEDS OF NOEFOLK.

own prowess, have invested it for all time with a peculiar
interest. In an amusing little work by Mr. J. P.
Muirhead, entitled "Winged Words on Chantrey's
Woodcocks," — being a collection of the numerous
poetical jeux d'esprit, with which the great sculptor was
honoured by his friends at the time, the particulars of
the occurrence are minutely detailed, and an extract
from the Holkham game book fixes the date as November
20th, 1829.* It is also stated that the spot where the
lucky shot was fired has been handed down to posterity
by the name of " Chantrey Hill." The beautiful marble
groupt (figured in Yarrell's ^* British Birds") repre-
senting two dead woodcocks, which was subsequently
executed by Chantrey, as a commemorative gift to the
late Earl of Leicester, now adorns the library at
Holkham, and the original cast or model is preserved in
the Chantrey gallery at Oxford. From amongst the
many quaint poetical effusions on this " double event "
(amounting to no less than one hundred and seventy-
nine), as collected and published by Mr. Muirhead, I
have selected the following as especially worthy of
record : —

" Life in death, a mystic lot,

Dealt thou to the winged band :
Death, — from thine unerring shot,

Life, — from thine undying hand."

The Bishop op Oxford.

" Driven from the north where winter starved them,
Chantrey first shot, and then he carved them."

The late Mr. Hudson Gurnet.J

* The shooting party that day consisted of Mr. Chantrey, Mr.
Glover, Mr. Stanhope, Mr. Coke, and Mr. Digby.

f Strangely enough the date of the event, of which this group
"was intended as a memento, is carved on the marble as 1830, but
unquestionably, as shown by the game book, it occurred in the
previous year.

X This version of the couplet differs both from that published
by Yarrell and the one given in " Winged Words," but is, I am
informed by Mr. J. H. Gurney, the correct reading.

GEEAT SNIPE. 299

SCOLOPAX MAJOR, amelin.

GEEAT SNIPE.

The solitary or '^ double " snipe, as it is provincially
termed, is a regular autumnal visitant, though for the
most part in small numbers, and appears with the
earhest flights of the common species in August and
September. From my own notes for the last twenty
years, I find the 17th of August and the 14th of October
the earliest and latest dates of its occurrence in Norfolk ;
and in no instance have I heard of its being killed here
during the winter months. Another peculiarity also
of this bird is the fact that it is scarcely ever known to
visit us in spring, when the common snipe again makes
its appearance, in considerable numbers, on its north-
ward passage. Writing of this species, Mr. Lubbock
remarks "they are never to be found in March, the
usual period of the snipe's vernal migration," nor do
I now know of more than one or two authentic
instances, and those, no doubt, stragglers driven acci-
dentally to the westward of their usual migratory
course.^ An adult bird in the collection of Mr. Alfred
Master, of this city, was killed a few years back on
Yarmouth beach in the spring, under the following
curious circumstances. It was observed by a fisherman
who was putting off to sea in his boat, flying low over
the waves and making direct for the shore, where it
ahghted on the beach. Having a gun with him he went
at once in pursuit of it, and from him it was purchased
in the flesh by my informant Mr. S. Bligh. It must

* Mr. Selby describes the " direction of their latitudinal flight
as much to the east of the longitude of the British Islands,"
but though in England they are apparently most frequent in the
Eastern Counties, yet according to Thompson they also occur
occasionally in Ireland.
2q2

800 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

be here noticed also that in the " Zoologist " for 1851
(p. 3175) Mr. P. E. Hansell, of Thorpe, near Norwich,
recorded a supposed instance of the Great Snipe breed-
ing in Norfolk, the particulars of which are thus
given. '' In the April of 1846, I found a nest of the
great snipe containing four eggs, one of which is now
in my collection ; the others were broken by a boy who
was with me, whilst stepping into my boat. The nest
was placed in a tuft of grass, in some marshes at
Belaugh, near Wroxham, in this county. I had a good
opportunity of observing both the birds, as they did not
rise in the usual quick manner of the common snipe,
but much more leisurely, and continued to hover round
the nest for some little time." In support of his state-
ment, Mr. HanseU also says that " a male specimen of
this bird was shot near Lowestoft, in Suffolk, the latter
end of April " in the same year. There is, however, a
very large snipe occasionally met with in our marshes,
which answers exactly to the description of Mr. Gould's
'' russet " snipe, as given by that author in his " Birds
of Great Britain," and to which I shall have occasion
to refer more fully in my account of the common species.
Having shot this bird myself on one occasion, and seen
two others on the wing, I can speak to its great
resemblance in size and action, when flushed, to the
great snipe. It utters no cry on rising, and flies slowly
and steadily, and would, I believe, by most sportsmen
be taken for the great snipe until brought to bag,
when the white of the under parts of the plumage
at once determines the species, in spite of its bulk
and extraordinary length of bill. May not the birds
seen by Mr. Hansell have belonged to this large race
of S. gallinago, whose eggs most probably would be
proportionate in size ? Any how, there seems to be no
doubt that the egg taken as above described, and
which has been presented by Mr. Hansell to the

GKEAT SNIPE. 301

Norwich. Museum, is only an unusual variety of tlie
common snipe's. Mr. Alfred Newton, to whom I recently
forwarded it for comparison with his fine series of eggs,
both of the great and common snipe, remarks, " I can
nearly match it as to colour and entirely as to size
by common snipes' eggs in my collection, while it is
considerably smaller than any great snipe's I have.
I can scarcely doubt its being a common snipe's, the
slight difference in colour from mine being owing,
probably to exposure to Kght or air, or both." The
great snipe also breeds much later than the common
species;"^ besides, as before stated, being extremely
rare, as a spring migrant.

Mr. Lubbock, in his 'Tauna," as well as in
notes supplied to the late Mr. Yarrell, gives some
interesting particulars of this bird from his own
observations. In flight, he says, "it does not appear
strikingly larger than the common snipe, which it does
not much exceed in length from bill to tail, or extent
of wing; its bulk is the effect of high condition. Of
many fresh specimens which I have examined, all,
without exception, were lumps of fat. One which I
shot burst from the fall. In rising it may at once
be distinguished from the common snipe by the tail,
which spreads out like a fan, and shows a great deal
of white. It lies until nearly trodden upon, and its
flight is slow and heavy. A drier marsh seems to
content it than those which the snipe and jack snipe
delight in. But this may arise in some degree from
the early period at which they arrive." The term
'^solitary" he considers as misapplied to this species,

* Mr. Hoy, who found many of their nests in Holland, describes
them as breeding early in May, and the Eev. H. B. Tristram
found them breeding in great numbers in marshy swamps,
near Bodo, in Nordland, in the early part of the summer. See
Hewitson's " Eggs of British Birds," 3rd ed., vol ii.

302 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

it being most frequently found in pairs, and instances
the fact of a fen-man, at Sutton, having " killed six in
the second week of September, 1835 ; four of these
birds were in pairs, and proved male and female respec-
tively." The heaviest bird he has known weighed
ten ounces, but the usual weight is from seven and a
half to eight and a half ounces. I have never had the
good fortune to meet with the great snipe, although
I have known it killed the next day on the very same
marsh to which I had devoted the whole of the previous
morning. Of some thirty specimens, however, that I
have handled at different times, the finest, killed on the
8th of September, 1858, weighed nine and a half ounces.''^
Since I commenced making notes of such occurrences I
cannot remember an autumn in which I have not
known one or more killed in Norfolk ; and in some
years they have been pretty numerous ; but their usual
scarcity, in these parts, brings them invariably under the
birdstuffers' hands, and not, as in other countries, to
table, as one of the finest of feathered dainties. Messrs.
Sheppard and Whitear, who had also opportunities
of examining several Norfolk killed specimens, remark
that in this snipe the '^ legs are of a light flesh colour
blended with a slight tinge of green. The length of
the bill is subject to great variation."

In Mr. Hunt's " List " five examples are said to have
been killed in the same week, in various parts of the
county in the autumn of 1826; and in 1831, Mr. Lubbock
states that " many were killed during August and
September." Mr. Rising also informs me that he
once shot six in one day, in his marshes at Horsey, and

* Under tlie head, of great snipe, in Daniel's " Eural Sports"
(vol. iii., p. 182, note), the author states that "a gentleman of
Yarmouth, in September, 1805, shot a snipe of the astonishing
weight of fourteen ounces," which is as hard to credit as the story
of the Norfolk woodcock that weighed twenty- seven ounces.

GREAT SNIPE. 303

much more recently Mr. T. W. Cremer, of Beeston, near
Cromer, killed five in one day out of a turnip field
in that neighbourhood, which he describes as rising
slowly, hke woodcocks in the open, and spreading their
tails."'^ Between the 6th and 19th of September, 1856, a
bird-stuffer, at Norwich, received five specimens from the
vicinity of Hickling and Horning, two of which were
killed at one shot on a barley layer ; and in September,
1862, a more than usual number were shot in the neigh-
bourhood of Yarmouth, but it is somewhat remarkable
that in the autumn of 1868, when, as shown by 'the
various records in the "Zoologist" (pp. 1422, 1460,
and 1461) and other journals, these birds were extra-
ordinarily abundant in the south of England,t I could
not ascertain that more than two, or three examples
at most, had been killed in this county.

This species is at once distinguishable from the
common snipe, by the under parts of the plumage
being barred throughout, the lower parts of the body
in 8colo]pax galUnago being pure white. Besides this
marked difference, however, the legs are somewhat
stouter in the great snipe, and the beak shorter in
proportion to the size of the bird, whilst the number
of the tail feathers is sixteen^ instead of fourteen as
in the common snipe ; but I cannot quite agree with
some authors that the eyes are proportionately higher
in the head. The whole bulk of the bird, comparing

* By some authors this bird is described as uttering no sound
on rising, but Selby remarks that "when flushed" the great snipe
generally utters a cry in some degree similar to that of the common
species, but shorter and hoarser.

t Selby speaks of their being unusually plentiful in the year
1826, which, like 1868, was a very dry and warm season.

I Mr. E. H. Rodd recorded in the "Zoologist" for 1868 (p.
1482) a specimen of this bird, killed at Camelford, Cornwall, with
several others, which had eighteen instead of sixteen tail feathers.

304 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

even females with males of the common species, is
altogether larger, and its general contour is expressively
rendered by the term " woodcock snipe," as applied to
it in some parts of the United Kingdom.

Mr. Gould, contrary to the statement of many authors,
speaks positively as to the male of the common snipe
being larger than the female, having arrived at that
conclusion after dissecting a large number of specimens,
and this rule, no doubt, applies to the great snipe as
well. His drawing, also, of the great snipe in his
''Birds of Great Britain," exhibits the marked difference
in plumage between the adult and immature plumage ;
the old birds having the four outer tail feathers on
each side pure white, crossed with two or three bars
of square black patches, on the outer webs only, from
about the centre to the base of each feather; and the
secondaries and wing-coverts are also margined with
conspicuous bands of white. From these markings,
which are wanting in the young birds (their tail feathers
being crossed with various shades of brown) ,"^ I am
enabled to state positively that with very rare excep-
tions indeed, the great snipes killed in this county are
aU in immature plumage ; most probably birds of the
year. I have never seen more than two adult birds
obtained on our eastern coast, one in my own posses-
sion, kiUed at Rockland, on the 17th of August, 1859,
which was brought to me by a Norwich birdstuffer as

* Tarrell states tliat the "young birds in their first autumn
have short beaks, and fewer, if any, white outside tail feathers ;"
but an immature male bird in my collection, which weighed seven
and a half ounces, has the outside tail feathers barred across hoth
webs almost to the tips, which are white ; and the beak measures
two inches and five-eighths; if anything exceeding the length
of the beak in my adult specimen, also a male. The beak in an
adult female of the common snipe, shot from the nest, measures
a little over two inches and five-eighths.

COMMON SNIPE. 305

a curious variety, and tlie one before mentioned in
Mr. Master's collection, procured in the spring of the
year.

Messrs. Trederick and Percy Godman, in a commu-
nication to the "Ibis" (1861, p. 87), state that of several
nests found by them in 1857, in a marsh at Bodo,"^ in
Norway, between the 24th and 27th of June (nearly a
month after the arrival of the birds) the eggs, four in
number, were deposited in a slight hollow scraped in the
surrounding moss, usually " on the edge of a small
hillock quite open," and with neither grass nor leaves
in them ; but in one instance, and one only, they found
that the sitting bird persistently covered itself with
moss, as a protection, no doubt, against the prying eyes
of the magpies and crows, as well as other dangerous
bipeds. An instinctive act very similar to that of the
woodcock before noticed, which, by way of concealment,
endeavoured to burv itself in the leaves.

SCOLOPAX GALLINAGO, Lmnseus.

COMMON SNIPE.

When the veteran sportsman, whose experience dates
back to the close of the last century, dilates on the
snipe shooting exploits of his early days, by some,
perhaps, the old man's tale may be listened to merely
with courteous incredulity ; but those who have marked
the marvellous changes effected within their own recol-
lection by drainage and cultivation, will receive the

* Mr. Alfred Newton informs me that in 1864, only seven years
afterwards, lie found this marsh had been completely drained, a
striking instance of the destruction of the breeding places of
various birds which is going on all over the world.
2 K

306 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

testimony of such a witness with no ordinary interest.
It would be needless here to repeat the picture I have
drawn in the introduction to this work of the condition
of Norfolk some fifty or sixty years ago, as compared
with its present state as a great agricultural county ;
but the changes which have gradually though exten-
sively prevailed throughout that period, will sufficiently
account for the very considerable diminution in the
number of snipe that are now met with in autumn,
both resident and migratory. It must be remembered,
however, that whilst, within our own boundaries, the
western fens retain scarcely any of their original features,
and the fowler's occupation is gone in the now culti-
vated " Marshland; " that whilst in the "Broad" district
the snipe-grounds have been everywhere curtailed by
extensive drainage — the drier marshes of former days
being now arable land, and the more swampy portions
rendered " too good " for snipe ; that whilst throughout
the county the enclosure and cultivation of heaths,
commons, and other waste lands, have deprived the
snipe, the lapwing, and the redshank of many thousand
acres of their former haunts, the same indications of
an advanced civilization are apparent elsewhere.* Such

* Mr. Alfred Newton tells me that at Baruham, near Thetford,
and bordering on this county, on the property of the Duke of
Grafton, there was some five and twenty years ago, a small but
singularly productive breeding-ground of this species. It con-
sisted of a piece of low land, only a few acres in extent, lying on the
west side of that parish midway between the Eiveden boundary
and a slight rising ground called Hunhill. The water from _ a
perennial spring formed a little stream which wound round and
about for a long way before it made its escape, and after much
rain overflowed the whole spot, whereon peat had formed, and
in consequence there grew thickly such vegetation as commonly
flourishes in similar places, while all around the soil was di-y and
sandy, thinly clothed with short grass studded with scrubby heather
and furze bushes, hardly frequented by any birds. But this little

COMMON SNIPE. 307

has been tlie case in other counties, and particularly in
Huntingdonshire, where the once celebrated Wittlesea
Mere now waves with corn crops instead of reeds.
Yet, when snipes bred numerously in those fens,* the
migratory flights in autumn, combined with others
performing the same southward movement, afforded good
sport in our own marshes, under certain conditions
of wind and temperature. Still further afield also, the
great increase in the number of grouse-shooters in Scot-
land, of late years, will account for a considerable
number of snipe bagged in the early part of the season
which would otherwise pass on to us with the fii'st frost. f

oasis, not much larger than a good sized garden, was evergreen, and
all the year haunted by snipes— never more so than in the breeding
season, when, perhaps it is no exaggeration to say that, there may
have been from a dozen to a score of pairs. About the time that the
late Duke of Grafton succeeded to his father, the farm on which
the Hunhill-lows are was let to a new tenant, who, being of a more
enterprizing character than his predecessor, began the usual course
of agricultural improvements. A drain was cut straight from the
spring, and a direct outfall made for the water instead of its being
allowed to find its own way, and in so doing to promote the growth
of the rough herbage. Sheep, even breeding ewes, came to pasture
in summer without fear of the rot, and in winter black cattle
grazed without a chance of being bogged. The surface soon
became almost as smooth as a well kept lawn, and the snipes of
course vanished.

* It would appear that formerly in the "Fen" district, many
more snipes were snared than shot, being thus of more value for
the table. The snaring was generally practiced during hard
weather, when there were but few runs of open water. The
snares were of horse-haii-, and set wherever the ground was " soft."
This custom, however, has never, I beheve, prevailed much in the
" Broad " district.

t Mr. Lubbock, in his " Fauna," mentions an excellent letter on

British snipes, under the signature of " H. V. D.," in the second

volume of " Loudon's Magazine of Natural History" (p. 143), which,

according to a note in Thompson's " Bhds of Ireland " (vol. ii., p.

2e 2

308 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Nor is there much reason to doubt that both in the
north and south of Europe the numbers of this species,
as well as of the woodcock, have been sensibly diminished
through the craving for sport of the irrepressible
gunner,^ especially when prolonged till late in spring.

Mr. Lubbock remarks, that the snipe " has, perhaps,
diminished less in numbers than most of the marsh
birds," and this may still be said of it after a further
interval of five and twenty years ; since, so long as the
broads maintain any portion of their natural condition,
the "whole" snipe, as it is provincially termed, to dis-
tmguish it from the "half" or jack snipe,' will continue
to be met with in greater or less plenty according

270) was written by no less an anttiority than the late Mr. Tarrell ;
and is here specially worthy of notice, since his remarks were
founded " on observation and experience, as a naturalist and sports-
man, in the eastern part of the county of Norfolk." At one period
of his life that distinguished Ornithologist was a constant visitor
to Yarmouth and its neighbourhood, where he died on the 1st
of September, 1856. In this instance, therefore, in quoting
Yarrell, I must be understood to refer only to the above letter,
with regard to the arrival of snipe in our marshes early in the
autumn. But writing, it must be remembered, as long since as
1829, he says, " in the latter part of August, we have a much greater
number of snipes on our marshes than were bred in the neighbour-
hood. This I have constantly regarded as a congregating and
migration of the snipes bred in the northern part of this kingdom."
Those arriving in September and October, particularly after gales
from the east and north-east, he always regarded "as bred in
foreign countries."

* A correspondent in the " Field " of April 8th, 1865 (p. 233),
writing on the "progressive and rapid deterioration of snipe
Bhooting in Ireland," attributes it not so much to drainage
as to " guns for the million, no game certificate ever asked for,
save, perhaps, in some rare instance from a gentleman, — the
faciUty of transmitting game from all parts of the country to the
large towns and the metropolis ; and, consequently, a ready sale
and high price for the contents of the poacher's pocket." The
writer also supports his theory with some very forcible evidence.

COMMON SNIPE. 309

to the season. The same author also states from his
own observations in former days, that *' a very small
number, comparatively speaMng, are bred in the Norfolk
Fens," and such, no doubt v^as always the case, inas-
much as the snipe, like the dunlin, curlew, and other
marsh and shore-birds, seems to resort, as in Scotland,
to elevated situations for breeding purposes ;'* even
though some may annually remain in the drier por-
tions of their winter quarters. At present they are
found breeding throughout both the "Fen" and the
" Broad " districts, but their numbers depend much
upon the weather, being most abundant, according
to my own observations, after a cold spring, with
a prevalence of north-easterly gales, at the period
of their vernal migration. At such times they arrive
here later than usual, and if unable for some days
to continue their passage, the urgent necessities of
parental duties oblige them to seek in our marshes
a retreat for their expected offspring. This was par-
ticularly the case in 1860, when a heavy fall of snow
occurred as late as the 22nd of April, and then an
unusually large number of snipes remained with us to
breed. It not unfrequently happens, however, that
just after their first eggs have been laid and the old
birds have commenced sitting, a considerable rainfall,
or an extraordinary high tide on the coast, so floods
the marshes that both nests and eggs are destroyed,
whilst the snipes, thus driven from their adopted home,
leave us altogether, and the prospects of a good breeding
season are entirely changed. Of course by far the largest
number are bred on the broads and marshes bordering

* In the Hebrides, Macgillivray states that their nests are
found in various situations; often in the grassy pastures, but
more frequently on the unfrequented moors, from the level of the
lakes to the height of two thousand feet.

310 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

on the Bui'e and the Ant, where as yet the whistle of
the locomotive is unknown, and a country wild in the
extreme, and for the most part preserved, offers the
most favourable conditions. About Horsey, Hickling,
and Heig'ham Sounds, and again at Horning-, Eanworth,
and Hoveton, whether in summer or winter, they are
mostly abundant ; and on the Yare, owing to careful
preservation of late years, many still remain, in favour-
able seasons, in the neighbourhood of Surlingham, and
some in the marshes about Langley and Buckenham,
which, though now drained by steam, are specially
mentioned in Lubbock's " Fauna " as more frequented
than others by snipes in the breeding season "being
there protected from the unfair system of ' egging.' "
Indeed, the wide extent of marshes which the railroad
now traverses, with but little intermission between
Norwich and Yarmouth, and where, in Sir Thomas
Browne's tim^s, the ruff and reeve bred freely with
other grallatorial species, was formerly reckoned the
best snipe ground, in Norfolk.

Besides the above localities, a few scattered pairs
may be found breeding in almost all parts of the
county, wherever favourable spots present themselves.
To the western fens, though in greatly decreased num-
bers, they still resort annually in spite of all changes,
as also to that small chain of fens bordering upon the
river Thet, in the south-western part of the county,
and the swampy margins or islands of the "Meres,"
which are chiefly situated in that neighbourhood. At
Scoulton, near Hingham, many are bred annually on
that portion of the " hearth " or island, in the centre
of the Mere, which is least frequented by the black-
headed gulls. A few "wet" commons, also, still happily
preserved to us, form a summer habitat for this species,
with the lapwing and redshank. Flordon Common to
the south-east, on a tributary of the Taesj Walton

COMMON SNIPE. 311

Common, near Westacre; Lexham Common, and
several smaller ones on the Nar and other streams
in that j)ortion of the county; and East Enston,
to the north-east, within three miles of the sea at
Happisburg'h, may be specially noticed. Both for the
home-bred and migratory snipes these rough waste lands
have peculiar attractions, the soft mossy turf being
intersected by small streamlets, and in the more swampy
portions a dense growth of reeds and sedges margins
the little " pulk " holes or pools of water. East
Ruston Common has also peculiar features, inasmuch
as one portion, bordered by a running stream, is covered
with small bushes of sallow and birch, where wood-
cocks as well as snipe are frequently met with, and the
rivulet is a favourite haunt of the green sandpiper.
The rest of the ground, from which the turf is cut, con-
sists of alternate ridges or " seams " of peat, and wide
trenches in which the water is generally more or less
deep ; and as this constitutes the best feeding ground for
the snipes, the sportsman has to pick his way along these
narrow walls of peat, with the certainty, if unaccustomed
to this mode of progression, of overbalancing himself,
one side or the other, at almost every shot. Yet here,
in a good season, from three to four hundred snipes have
been killed, even of late years ; and when I visited it in
August, 1865, about five and twenty couples had been
shot up to that time ; all bred around the small broads
and swamps of that wild neighbourhood, no foreign
snipes having appeared up to that time.

The snipe is an early breeder, and the return flights
which visit our marshes on their northward passage,
usually make their appearance about the second or third
week in March; but in mild seasons, as Mr. Lubbock
states, *^ parties are often found skimming round the
edges of the broads, and alighting on the masses of
decayed weed and floating sedge, so early as the middle

312 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

of February.* If detained for some days by contrary
winds, there is usually good sport at tbis time of year,
although the main body soon pass on again to their
northern homes ; but the custom which, I am sorry to
say, very generally prevails of shooting snipe even as late
as the first and second week in April, cannot be too
strongly deprecated, inasmuch as the females are then
either heavy with egg or actually engaged in incuba-
tion; whilst many that would remain to breed in our
marshes are thus slaughtered or driven out of the
county. Surely the proprietors of our local snipe-
grounds, who have the power of preserving in their
own hands must, on reflection, see the fallacy of thus
killing the old birds in spring, when, if allowed quietly
to establish themselves for the summer, their progeny
would afford more certain sport in the course of the
following autumn. Before long, it is to be hoped, an
act may be passed to preserve all this class of birds
in the breeding season, and having seen the effect
during the last few years of the protective system,
both at Hoveton and Surhngham, I have no doubt as
to a favourable result. On the latter broad, during the
first week of August, 1865, an unusual number having
remained to breed, I flushed between thirty and forty
couples on one small marsh. Three, which I shot,
proved to be young birds of the year in fair condition,
and quick on the wing, but up to that time, the marsh-
man assured me, no foreign flights had made their

* Yarrell states that their return in the month of February
or March, is regulated by the same atmospheric influences that
cause certain wild flowers to bloom earlier or later in difierent
seasons, and adds, " by attending to these coincidences a Norfolk
sportsman will rarely be disappointed in his expectations of amuse-
ment at this time of year." The usual term of re-migi-ation he
considers to be between the lith of March and the end of that
m^onth.

COMMON SNIPE. 313

appearance. These homebred birds, however, must not
be left too late into the autumn should a day or two's
shooting be contemplated, as with the first frost they
quit our marshes for the south, to be succeeded only
by the usual migratory flights.

As early sometimes as the middle of March, but
generally a week or so later, the strange " drumming"
or bleating noise* of this species when on the wing,
indicates the commencement of the nuptial season,
and from that time all persecution should cease,
even though, with regard to the time of incubation,
the snipe is very irregular. A cold backward spi*ing,
or the first eggs having been taken, or destroyed by
a sudden flood, will make all the difference, but those
which are fortunate with their first brood, have no
doubt a second hatch, as the "drumming" may be
heard at times as late as the end of July, and
I have seen young birds, still in the down, in the
middle of August. Mr. W. E. Fisher recorded in the
"Zoologist" for 1843 (p. 248), the fact of two snipe's
eggs having been brought to Yarmouth for sale, from a
nest which contained four, as early as the 1st of April, f
and I have received them myself, quite fresh, on the 8th

* Hence the name of "heather bleater" by which the snipe is
commonly known in Scotland, and according to Thompson, Gaelic
and Irish words are applied to it signifying " air-goat," or " kid
of the air." In France it is termed " chevre volant;" and Mr.
Alfred Newton tells me that in Lapland it is known by a name
which signifies " ram of the sky."

t In the « Field " of 1867 (p. 275), Mr. H. M. Upcher, of
Sheringham, states that a freshly killed snipe dissected by him,
on the 80th of March, contained a perfect egg richly coloured and
ready for exclusion. In the " Zoologist," also, for 1868 (p. 1256),
Mr. F. Bond mentions a very early nest of the common snipe in
Sussex. The hen bird was shot on the 4th of April and her
four eggs taken. The breast feathers even then indicated that she
had been sitting some days.
2 s

314 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

and 16th of tliat month, as well as young in their first
down by the 3rd of May. I have also a couple of nest-
lings with their wing feathers nearly complete, though
still with much down left amongst the new plumage,
which were taken at Surlingham on the 19 th of June ;
and by the 16th and 21st of July, Mr. Dowell has
found them fully grown.* At this time, as Ta,rrell
states, both " old and young quit their breeding marshes
in common with other fen birds, and betake themselves,
in family parties of six or seven in a flock, to marshes
which have been recently mown."

The nest, with its usual complement of four large
eggs,t is placed either in a tuft of grass or rushes,
in some dry portion of the marsh — a mere hollow in
the ground, lined with coarse grasses, or on a raised
*' tussock " similarly concealed, and is not unfrequently
situated near a run of water. The young, when dis-
turbed in their downy state, instinctively seek shelter in
any slight irregularity of the ground. In this stage, as
is the case more or less with all the waders, young
snipes are the prettiest little objects imaginable, their
russet coats in various shades of brown being relieved
with greyish markings on the upper parts, the whole
assimilating in a marvellous manner to the herbage
which surrounds the nest. A female in my collection,
shot from the nest, exhibits the grey colouring on the
throat and sides of the face, which, according to Mr.

* Yarrell states that in 1829 he "killed young snipes, strong
on the wing, as early as the last week in May ; but in other years
seldom before the 6th of June.

f Low in his " Fauna Orcadensis," states that he has several
times found six eggs in the same nest, but this Mr. Hewitson
accounts for by two birds having laid in one nest, as is nob
unfrequently the case with other species. The snipe's egg is so
large for the size of the bird that it would be almost impossible
for it to cover more than four.

COMMON SNIPE. 315

Gould, in his " Birds of Great Britain," is assumed by
this species in the breeding season.

Often have I watched by the half hour together,
till my eyes fairly tired of looking up into the
bright sunny sky, the strange "play" of the snipes in
spring and summer. Sometimes one only, at others
several may be seen at a considerable height, now
curving upwards with a wide circling flight, now rapidly
falling from their highest pitch with quivering wings
and outspread tail, whilst simultaneously with the
downward movement, and then only, a tremulous buz-
zing sound falls upon the ear, which ceases the moment
that the bird, recovering itself, ascends once more.
The same performance is repeated again and again,
sometimes for hours, and occasionally the snipe takes
so lofty a flight as to be scarcely visible to the naked
eye ; but in the final descent the flight is extremely
rapid and making a slight detour as it nears the ground,
the bird drops abruptly into the sheltering herbage of
the marsh or reed-bed. From the earliest dawn this
sound, so peculiar to our marshy districts, and asso-
ciated always with the wail of the lapwing and the
redshank's whistle, may be heard at intervals through-
out the day, but towards evening many more seem to
indulge in this resonant flight ; and still more strange
is that buzzing in the air, if heard after dark, with
the birds of course invisible even in a starlit sky.
I was first aware of this nocturnal habit when staying
near Horning Ferry, in the middle of April, 1860
(an unusual number having, as before stated, remained
to breed in this county), but then, every evening, as
late as nine or ten o'clock at night, the noise of the
snipes was as incessant, and remarkable, as a frogs'
concert. It is noticeable, however, that this peculiar
action is not altogether confined to the breeding
season, Mr. Blofeld, of Hoveton, an unquestionable
2 s 2

316 BIKDS OF NORFOLK.

authority in such matters, assures me lie once heard
a snipe drumming in the depth of winter, and on draw-
ing the attention of his marshman, William Hewitt, to
what he then considered a very strange occurrence,
the old man assured him that he had remarked the
same thing on several occasions, and that he regarded
it as a sign of stormy weather ; which in that instance
proved correct. I think there can be no doubt that
this is a purely " amatory signal," but just as some
birds sing in autumn or winter, so cock snipes will, no
doubt, at other than breeding times.

There had been various attempts to account for the
way in which the neighing or drumming was produced,
but no one succeeded in doing so satisfactorily until Mr.
W. Meves, the conservator of the Zoological Museum
of Stockholm, discovered that it was due to the vibration
of the stiff webs of the outer tail-feathers, caused by
the action upon them of the air as the bird descends
rapidly in the course of its " play ;" the sound,
as I have before remarked, being heard only as the
snipe falls ."^ That it is not produced in any way
by the throat is evident from the fact that the
ordinary cry of the snipe, which Selby not inaptly
likens to "the word chissich lispingly pronounced,"
has been heard simultaneously with the drumming
noise ; and Mr. Harting (" Birds of Middlesex") on one
occasion, was enabled to satisfy himself that the beak
remained closed at the moment the drumming sound
was perceptible. Mr. Meves thus explains the circum-
stances which led to his very remarkable discovery.
"The peculiar form," he says, "of the tail feathers in
some foreign species, nearly allied to the common snipe ;

* Anoth.er sound, or properly speaking, note, is occasionally
heard as tlie bird ascends, which Yarrell likens to the word
*' tinker, tinker, tittered in a sharp shrill tone."

COMMON SNIPE. 317

for instance in Scolopax javensis, encouraged the notion
that the tail, if not the only cause, is in a considerable
degree concerned in the production of the sound. On
a closer examination of the tail feathers of our common
species, I found the first outer feather, especially, very
peculiarly constructed ; the shaft uncommonly stiff and
sabre shaped ; the rays of the webs strongly bound
together and very long, the longest reaching very nearly
three-fourths of the whole length of the web, their rays
lying along or spanning from end to end of the curve
of the shaft like the strings of a musical instrument.
If we blow from the outer side upon the broad web it
immediately vibrates, and the sound is heard, which,
although not so loud, resembles very exactly the well
known neighing. In order to convince myself fully
that it was the first feather which produced the peculiar
sound, it was only necessary for me carefully to pluck
out such a feather, fasten its shaft with fine thread to
a piece of steel wire a tenth of an inch in diameter
and a foot long, and then to fix this at the end of a
four foot stick. If now I drew the feather, with its
outer side forwards, sharply through the air, at the
same time making some short movements or shaking
of the arm, so as to represent the shivering motion of
the wings during flight, the neighing sound was pro-
duced with the most astonishing exactness. If I wished
to hear the humming of both feathers at once, as must
be the case in the flying bird, I found this also could
be managed by a simple contrivance. I take a small
stick and fasten to the side of the smaller end, a piece
of burnt steel wire in the form of a fork ; then I bind
to each point a side tail feather ; then bend the wire so
that the feathers receive the same direction which they
do in the spreading of the tail as the bird descends
in flight; and then with this apparatus, I draw the
feathers through the air as before. Such a sound, but

318 BIKUS OF NORFOLK.

in another tone, is produced when we experiment with
the tail feathers of other kinds of snipe. But in Scolopax
major, S. capensis, and S. frenata are found four hum-
ming feathers on each side, which are considerably
shorter than in the species I have been speaking of,
Scolopax javensis, has eight feathers on each side, which
are extremely narrow and very stiff. Since in both
sexes these feathers have the same form, it is clear that
both can produce the humming noise ; by means of
experiment I have convinced myself that it is so.""^ The
late Mr. John WoUey, an undoubted authority, saw
this experiment repeatedly performed, and was perfectly
satisfied that this mode of explaining the drumming
sound was the correct one, as indeed any one may be
who makes trial for himself of Mr. Meves's experiment.
In support, also, of Mr. Meves's assertion that the act
of drumming is common to both sexes, Mr. Harting
informs us that a pair of snipes flushed from their nest,
" continued to fly round in circles making this peculiar
noise for nearly half an hour." Both birds were heard
to " drum " distinctly and separately, and thus we may
account for more being heard towards evening than
during the day, as the hen birds would then leave their
nests for awhile, and join with their mates in the same
sportive flight.

As a rule the first flights of snipes from the north
of Europe arrive about the middle or end of August;,
for I imagine that those mentioned by Mr. Lubbock as
appearing at the end of July, were bred much nearer
home. In the early part of the season they are fre-
quently to be found scattered over the cultivated lands,t

* " Proceedings of the Zoological Society," 1858, p. 199 et seq.
Extract printed also in " Zoologist " for 1858 (p. 6244.)

•f Mr. Cordeaux, speaking of the earlier arrivals of snipes in
North Lincolnshire ("Zoologist," 1868, p. 1030), remarks, "We

COMMON SNIPE. 319

or the sedgy margins of pit holes and ditches, as
well as in such marshes as are then sufficiently moist.
They have also a decided preference for such as have
been frequented by cattle during the summer months,
their dung affording much insect food. The low lands
near the salt marshes, on the coast, also afford good
sport at times when the snipes are first over, and in
such localities, at Blakeney, Mr. Dowell has known
as many as twelve couples killed to one gun in a day.
These, however, soon pass on to the southward to
be succeeded by others throughout September, but
it is seldom that any number are bagged until the
main body of the migratory snipes disperse themselves
over the broads and marshes in October and November.
As Mr. Lubbock remarks, "their abundance and their
stay are regulated in great measure by the wind and
the mildness or severity of the weather. The best
seasons for snipe-shooting are those in which moderate
easterly or north-easterly gales occur at intervals during
September, October, and November. Should too long
an interval occur without such wind, the snipes, when
it comes, pour in upon us in great numbers, but gener-
ally depart again in a few days." Usually, as far as
my experience goes, the latter month is the most
favourable, and on the broads, especially, they are then
more accessible in boats,"^ the reeds having been cut, or

at first seldom find thein near water, almost invariably in dry
situations, in pasture land amongst the long grass, or on stubbles."
* At such times, as Yarrell, in the article before mentioned,
states from his experience of the broads, " they rest on beds of
watercresses and the broken remains of Scirpus lacustris (which
had previously been cat by the marshmen, under the name of
holders, for chair bottoms) ; and the Typha latifolia (vulgo
glaidon), and Sparganium ramosum (vulgo black-weed), which
are used by coopers to put between the staves of casks ; on the
floating remains of these and other aquatic plauts they lie in great
numbers."

320 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

" laid " in places by the frost, and many couples may
then be flushed from the " hoves " or mown pathways
bordering the reed-beds ; as well as on the surrounding
marshes, which by that time, as feeding grounds, are in
much better condition. It is often difficult, however,
to accomit for the sudden arrival or departure of these
birds, here to day and gone to-morrow, and every sports-
man knows by experience how rarely a good day's
sport is obtained amongst many blanks in the snipe
shooting lottery. How consolatory after a hard day's
walking, with scarcely a shot to keep up excitement, to
hear from the marshman the old, old, story, " Lor ! Sir,
if you'd only been here yesterday, why that there marsh
was pretty well all snipe." Xor have you even the
satisfaction of doubting his word, when you find that
most eligible locality bearing " mute " evidence to their
recent abundance. And thus, at times, even at the
present day, very large bags may be made when a good
shot happens to hit upon the right day.

Snipes, however, without leaving us altogether,
appear to be constantly shifting their ground under
''skyey influences," a sudden flood in the low lying
marshes often driving them in "wisps" into the turnip-
fields, or occasioning them to congregate in unusual
numbers on such marshes as may chance to lie higher
and drier than the rest. On the 23rd of November,
1853, a fair sprinkling of snipes having been reported
in that fine district, I was asked to shoot with a friend
at Eanworth, but although we walked all the best
ground, the waters had so risen on the previous night
that scarcely a bird was to be seen, and up to one
o'clock we had had only two wild shots. As a last
resource it was suggested that we should try some
marshes on a higher level at Horning, even though much
time would be lost in going so far. As it turned out
we were amply repaid for our trouble. No sooner had we

COMMON SNIPE. 321

landed on one marsh, of no great extent, than the snipes
rose on all sides, not in a body but two or three at a
time. If we walked on too quickly they rose behind
us ; if the dog fetched one he sprang several more, so
reluctant did they seem to take wing at all, and their
numbers were so extraordinary and so unlooked for,
that the eye became altogetlier confused, and it was
difficult to determine which to shoot at first. "^ In the
excitement of this novel scene, I well remember missing
five shots in succession with my first barrel, and killing
them all with the second ; and though in a very short
time we had secured twelve or fourteen couples, had I
been as good a snipe shot as my companion, and day-
light had lasted, we might easily have bagged eighteen
or twenty couples.

It has been said that snipes are not in condition
till after the first frost, and certainly some of the
weightiest birds I ever handled have been killed during
the most severe weather. This however, arises from
the fact that although a severe frost compels the main
body to seek a milder climate, f yet a good many will
betake themselves at such times to the upland springs
or sedgy banks of meadow drains and rivulets, and in
these localities, even with a deep snow on the ground,
several couples may sometimes be met with, both common
and jack snipes, and always, under such circumstances,
in high condition. In January, 1861, and again in
the winter of 1866-67, during the extraordinarily sharp
weather, which at that time visited us for many weeks,
when nearly all the denizens of the broads had been

* A somewhat similar occurrence is narrated in Thompson's
" Birds of Ireland" (vol. ii„ p. 262.)

t It is probable that at these times the snipes take a westerly
as well as southerly direction, which would account for the unusual
numbers met with by Mr. Harry Blake Knox, in the county
Dublin, in January, 1867. See " Zoologist," 1868 (p. 1192).
2 T

322 BIEDS OF NORFOLK.

frozen out, and even sucli birds as remained in
our fields and hedgerows were dying from cold and
hunger, some of the weightiest snipes I ever handled
were killed near a spring head in an inland situation.
In the neighbourhood of Norwich the low meadows at
Thorpe, Lakenham, Cringleford, Earlham, Bowthorpe,
and other places, are all more or less likely under such
circumstances ; although too much drained to afford at
other times, the sport which in former years could be
had there throughout the season.* The wet commons
before mentioned, as well as the marshes bordering on
the coast, both salt and fresh water, are also much
frequented during the first day or two of frost. In the
first week of December, 1862, during severe weather, an
immense number of snipes were found scattered over the
county, and in somewhat unusual localities. f Seventeen
couj^les and a half were killed off the "ronds"J only on

* Daniel, in his "Rural Sports" (vol iii., p. 178), gives some
interesting observations by a Norfolk gentleman " upon the times
of the snipe's appearance in the vicinity of Norwich," both in
spring and autumn ; and in these notes made in the years 1800
and 1801, Moushold-heath is mentioned as a locality frequented
by them. Even within the last forty or fifty years good suipe-
shooting could be had, about Trowse and Lakenham, close to the
city, the winding course of the Tare presenting many tempting
spots for these birds in the various islets, osier-carrs, and reed-
beds, whilst the surrounding meadows were not then " too good."
Yet here — except in frosty weather, when I have killed three or
four couples in a morning out of the marsh drains, a snipe is rarely
seen at the present time.

t In his " Ornithological Notes from the Scilly Islands,"
" Zoologist," 1865 (p. 9452), Mr. E. H. Eodd describes the snipes
during frost and snow, as "feeding with the poultry in front of
the drawing room window, * * * and it was a pretty sight
to see an old turkey cock pursue a snipe by the Abbey Pool."

J These wide and swampy margins to the river (called in the
western part of the county " washes"), lying between the water's
edge and the raised bank which protects the adjoining lands

COMMON SNIPE. 323

the river Bure, near Yarmouth, and many others were
found at Earlham, Heigham, and Markshall, and even
near the Foundry Bridge within the bounds of this
city. On the broads they were described as appear-
ing in immense "wisps," — "hundreds in a lump" as
one marshman described them. Again in 1867, after
severe rime frosts, between the 26th and 30th of
November, I counted over thu-ty couples of snipes in
our fish-market, including four couple of jacks, all of
which had been brought up to Norwich in one day, and
a man who had shot the chief portion of them, stated
that they had been killed on the Bramerton marshes,
where he believed there were hundreds, as he had
never before seen anything like such numbers.'^ Marsh-
men also have told me at different times, of snipes
sitting in large " wisps " on the broads during a white
frost or in snowy weather, crowding together in bunches
on the broken down reeds, and affording a rare chance for
a big gun.f The great difiiculty of observing a snipe on
the ground amongst the coarse herbage, is known to all
sportsmen, but from long habit our broadmen are so
quick sighted, that it is not unusual for them to distin-

froin inundation, afford good lying for the snipes when the dense
growth of sedge and other coarse herbage has been mown in
autumn, and afford very good sport at times ; the bag including
rails and water-hens as well as snipes.

* It should be here mentioned, also, that on the 1st of
December, within a day or two of the time these snipes appeared,
our coast was visited by a fearful gale from the north-east,
causing an almost unprecedented high tide at Tarmouth, and a
consequent flood over the whole of that neighbourhood; which
resulted in great damage to property and loss of life at sea. The
weather had previously been unusually wet with much fog and
occasional storms of haU and snow.

f It was probably under such circumstances that, as related
by Daniel in his " Rural Sports," the Duke of Marlborough's game-
keeper once kUled twenty-two snipes at one shot.
2 T 2

324 BIRDS OF NOKPOLK.

guisli a bird in some spot where, even tliougli pointed
out to liim, the novice may look in vain. I never re-
member to have detected a whole snipe in a marsh before
its warning- cry of "scape, scape" on rising attracted
my notice, but I have caught sight of jack snipes sitting
close to my feet more than once ; and occasionally, when
rowing by the side of a reed-bed on the broads, the
bright eye of a snipe, squatting close to the water's edge,
has suddenly caught my own, though otherwise, even
withui a yard of me, it would have passed unnoticed.
During frost and snow, however, when pinched with
the severity of the weather, I have more than once come
upon a snipe feeding by the side of an open stream,
too busily engaged in ^'boring" to be aware of my
approach. Mr. Harting also states in his "Birds of
Middlesex" that on one occasion having sur^jrised a
snipe under similar circumstances, it squatted down in
the water as soon as it was aware of his presence, and
was only flushed at last by a pebble thrown at it. The
food of this species consists chiefly of earthworms, with
insects and small moUusca."^

With snipes as with woodcocks, it is difiicult to
arrive at any satisfactory estimate of the numbers that
formerly visited this county as compared with the pre-
sent time.f Then, as now, exceptional cases occurred

* In confinement they will readily eat bread and milk, and on
this food Mr. Edward Newton reared some, caught when half
grown, till they were fully fledged. They thrived admirably until
sent to the Zoological Gardens, when they immediately died.

f It is somewhat singular that in the L'Estrange " Household
Book" snipes are but once entered, " Itm v snypys," but no price
given, and they were probably too common for Sir Thomas
Browne to notice them in his " List." In the " Northumberland
Household Book" they are ordered to be bought "for my Lordes
owne Mees at Pryncipall Feystes so they be good, and after iij
a j<i- "; a pretty good evidence of their abundance at that time.

COMMON SNIPE. 325

of enormous flocks visiting us from temporary causes, and
we have fortunately a few records of the numbers killed
on such occasions ; but these are, of course, no guide as
to the bags then made in any average season. From
conversations I have had, however, with several old
sportsmen on this point, I believe that where forty or
fifty years ago, twenty, or five and twenty, couples
a day was reckoned good sport (occasionally as large
a number falling to one gun) at the present time, even
on the best ground, ten couples would be reckoned
a good bag and four or five an average qtiantity. At
Surlingham, Mr. Robert Pratt, who has had considerable
experience in such matters, assures me that although
during the last few years the broad and surrounding
marshes have been carefully preserved, they have
nothing hke the amount of snipes in the autumn and
winter that they had fifteen or twenty years ago. This
he attributes to certain tidal influences caused by the
opening out of Yarmouth Bridge, by which the waters
rise and fall more rapidly than they used to do,
thus suddenly flooding out the snipes with an excep-
tionally high tide, and again receding too soon to leave
the marshes in a fit state for feeding. This also applies
more or less to other localities where, prior to the
drainage system of the present day, the very gradual
subsidence of the waters, after a wet season, left the
marshes in the most attractive condition for snipes;
whilst many of them have now become too dense and
mossy. In October, 1852, after repeated visits with but
small results, a good shot bagged eighteen couples in
one day on Surhngham broad, but since then the largest
bag I know of, on the same ground, has been twelve
and a half couples, and between five and six is con-
sidered fair shooting. In the season of 1862-3 over
four hundred snipes were killed to an average of three
guns, about Surhngham and Rockland ; and still more

326 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

recently, as many have been sliot on the opposite side of
the river, about Brundall, Strumpshaw, and Buckenham;
but this can only be effected by residents, shooting
almost daily so long as any snipes are to be found.'*

The following are a few cases in which exceptional
numbers have been killed in Norfolk, as recorded by
local authors, or gleaned from the '^ hearsay " evidence
of sporting friends : —

The Messrs. Paget, m thQ introduction to their
" Sketch," state that in the winter of 1829, five
hundred snipes, with a proportionate number of plover
and wild fowl, were brought in to a Yarmouth game-
dealer on one market day. A similarly remarkable
occurrence is also given by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher
in the Introduction to their "Birds of Norfolk," who
state that on the 11th of December, 1844, five hundred
snipes and eight hundred dunlins were brought to one
dealer at Yarmouth ; and on the 16th, two hundred
dunlins and three hundred snipes. At Sutton, some
eighteen years ago, Captain Rous Icilled over forty couples
in one day to his own gun, and the marshman who was
with liim, merely taking the outskirts, killed fourteen
couples. In the Langley and Buckenham marshes many
years ago, when in fine condition, a single sportsman is
said to have killed eighty couples to his own gun ; and
about five and twenty years back, I am told that
Mr. Robert Fellowes killed seventy-nine couples in one
day at Horsey. Somewhere about the year 1859 or 1860,
and in the month of November, Mr. Dowell informs
me that immense fiights of snipes appeared on the

* The marslimen are usually aware of the arrival of the snipes
in any large quantities, and, communicating at once with some
neighbouring sportsman, he stands a fair chance of making a bag
the nest morning. An individual, however, from a distance, who
probably cannot obey the summons before the second day, in all
probability finds that the snipes have shifted their quarters.

COMMON SNIPE. 327

coast, in the neiglibourliood of Holkliam, and being
met by a severe frost on landing, afforded extraor-
dinary sport for two or three days. On the first day
Lord Leicester killed seventy or eighty couples, either
flying overhead or out of the small drains; on the
next day his lordship and a gamekeeper shot about
seventy-eight couples, and having written for Mr.
Dowell, that gentleman on the third day killed
eighteen couples, but by that time the greater bulk of
them had left the neighbourhood. As a further
instance, also, of a sudden frost driving the snipes
in large numbers to the inland springs and drains,
Mr. Thomas Edwards informs me that some thirty
years ago, when residing at Hapton, he killed eighty-
four couples of snipes m two days, which were scattered
over the low lying meadows and common lands in that
neighboui'hood .

The following returns from his game books of some
of the most favourable seasons for snipe in that neigh-
bourhood has been kindly supplied me by Mr. E. C.
Newcome, of Eeltwell: — In 1839 four hundred and
twelve snipes were bagged. In 1841, six hundred and
thirty- three — the best days in that year being September
6th, when Mr. Newcome and his brother killed fifty-
six snipes, and October 2nd and November 20th, when
the Rev. W. C. Newcome shot twenty-nine and forty-
nine snipes respectively. On the 14th of October, 1843,
the late Lord George Bentinck bagged twenty couples.
On the 28th of September, 1851, the snipes being
plentiful but very wild, the Rev. W. C. Newcome shot
forty-five snipes ; and in 1860 the total bag amounted
to three hundred and seven.

From the Rev. J. Burroughes I learn that during
his long experience, both as a naturalist and sportsman,
of the habits of our marsh-birds, he has in two or three
instances known of extraordinary migrations of snipes.

328 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

On one occasion at Wheatacre Burgli, near Haddiscoe,
where tlie birds kept on in continuons flights across the
country, as larks are seen to do in southern counties,
taking one particular course, and thus passing on for
several hours. At another time, some fifteen years ago,
with snow on the ground, during a similar migratory
movement of this species, near Buckenham Horse-shoes,
the birds, in passing over a fence near a gateway, flew
so low that some were even knocked down with sticks.
He has also occasionally found them very plentiful on
the ploughed flelds, and has killed as many as flve and
a half couples in such localities.

The partiality for some particular spot is as marked
in the snipe as the woodcock, and most snipe-shooters
can recall some pit-hole, drain, or spring head, where
invariably as the season came round a snipe (and more
particularly a jack), could be found. If the soil is but
suitable to their habits, any moist situation contents
them, and I remember some years back a little swamp
close to a residence at Hardingham, where snipes were
-always found in autumn. So confined was the space
that, at the first shot, the "whole" snipes would rise in a
*'wisp," and two or three jacks would be flushed by close
walking. If revisited again in an hour or two they
were sure to have returned to the same spot, and thus
in two or three visits as many couples might be bagged
in the day ; but drainage, has, I believe, since accom-
plished what constant shooting failed to effect, and
banished them for ever.

Some of my readers will probably remember that in
1858-59 a discussion took place in the columns of the
'' Field" on the question of snipes perching at times on
trees or other elevati3ns ; and, in spite of the authorities
then cited to the contrary by the naturalist editor of
tliat journal, I must still maintain that such is the case,
and in support of my assertion could produce many

COMMON SNIPE. 329

witnesses, both marshmen and sportsmen, resident near
the broads. It would seem, however, that tliis habit
is confined entirely to the breeding season, all the
instances I have heard of in this county having occurred
in the summer months ; and where a tree or a marsh-
mill stands conveniently near the nest there is no doubt
that one or other of the parent birds will occasionally
settle upon it. Most frequently, I imagine, the male
bird whilst the hen is sitting."^ Both Mr. Blofeld and
his marshman, William Hewitt, assure me that they
have witnessed this fact in several instances at Hoveton ;
and on one occasion, when sailing in the Norwich river,
Mr. Robert Pratt, of Surlingham, observed a snipe
perched on a mill sail near the shore, and a young lad
with him at the time having shot the bird, sitting,
brought it on board the boat. A relative of my own,
the Eev. J. C. Matchett, well accustomed to the Broad
district as an angler, as well as snipe shooter in former
days, assures me that many years ago, at Ran worth,
in the spring of the year, he saw a snipe perch on a
^* notice " board which stood on a marsh near the
side of the river. Mr. F. Mills also, an observing
naturalist as well as sportsman, informs me that in
two successive years, when residing near Horning
Ferry, he saw a snipe perch on the branch of a tree,
and on the last occasion pointed it out to a friend who
had been sceptical on the point up to that time. The
gamekeeper, who has charge of the Gullery at Scoulton,
has frequently seen a snipe perch on the summit of a

* It is possible, also, although. I have no data to prove this,
that it occurs only when the upper branches of the tree have
been struck by lightning, or from other causes are bare of leaves ;
thus presenting, as iu the case of the mill sails, a clear surface.
We all know that swallows mostly, though not invariably, select
the dead wood, near the summit of a tree, as a resting place for
themselves and young.
2 u

330 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

flagstaff, erected on a small island at that end of the
" Mere" where the snipes always breed. On one occa-
sion he saw a pair resting on it at the same time, and
the black-headed gulls occasionally do the same. I
could adduce other evidence, were it at all necessary,
but though it so happens that I have never witnessed
it myself, I am not the less positive as to the fact. It
certainly is a rare circumstance, or it would scarcely
have remained so long unnoticed by authors, but if the
curlew, whimbrelj and spotted redshank, as stated by
Hewitson, on his own and Mr. Wolley's authority, and
the greenshank, as Mr. Alfred Newton informs me,
regularly perch on trees, as well as redshanks on
railings, during the breeding season ; whilst green sand-
pipers, herons, spoonbills, and even cormorants, to say
nothing of many kinds of ducks, frequent trees for
breeding purposes — all of which one might say, if
imaware of their custom, were not at all likely to do
so — what becomes of the "utter impossibility," as
alleged, of the snipe committing a hke breach of
ornithological propriety.*

The common snipe varies much both in size and
weight, the latter depending on the weather and the
facilities for obtaining food. The ordinary weight may

* Mr. Gould does not refer to this point in his " Birds of
Great Britain," but in a communication to " Land and Water"
for February 1st, 1868, publishes a letter from Mr. W. H. Pope,
Colonial Secretary of Prince Edward Island, in which that
gentleman describes his successful attempt to shoot a snipe from
off a tree; which specimen he sent to Mr. Gould, who had pre-
viously doubted his assertion that he had before seen "the snipe
of that country (Scolopax wilsoni) perching on the tops of the
highest trees." To this I may also add that the late Mr. Wheel-
wright, in his " Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist" (p. 100) states
that the Australian snipes (Scolopax australis), which he there
met with, " often perch in the tea-tree scrub," and that he had
" twice killed them sitting on the bare limb of a large gum tree."

COMMON SNIPE. 331

be said to be about four ounces, but Mr. Lubbock
states that out " of twenty-one couples killed the 1st of
December, 1829, the snipes being at that time in very
high condition, six birds weighed five ounces each, two
five and a half ounces each, and one bird within a hair
of six ounces."

There is, however, as I have stated in my account
of Scolopax major, a large race of the common species,
of which several examples have been killed, to my
knowledge, in Norfolk. In my own collection is one
of these, which I shot at Horning on the 23rd of
November, 1853, when, as before stated, the flooding
of the low lands had caused extraordinary numbers
to congregate on the higher level. This bird rose
slowly and heavily like a woodcock, and uttered no
cry, and when I shot it, I fully believed I had killed a
solitary snipe, until I saw the white feathers on the
under parts of the body. Two others of equal propor-
tions were shot at the same time, which I regret to say
were not preserved. In comparing my specimen, an
adult female, even with a male of Scolopax major, it
appears to stand as high on its feet, and measures
about the same in total length, but great as are its
proportions as compared with ordinary specimens of the
common species, it wants the somewhat woodcock aspect
of the solitary snipe. Like the common snipe it has
only fourteen feathers in the tail, the white of the
under parts is pure, but much barred on the flanks,
and the rest of the plumage particularly rich in colour,
with the dorsal stripes fairly defined. The most re-
markable feature, however, is the beak, which measures
exactly three inches and a quarter, whilst in a speci-
men of the solitary snipe the beak is only two inches
and five-eighths, and the same in an average sized
female of the common snipe. Being in rather poor
condition it weighed only a little over six ounces. Mr.
2u2

332 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Lubbock, however, mentions having seen on one occa-
sion a gigantic snipe, which was then in the hands of
a Norwich birdstuflfer, and which weighed "very
nearly eight ounces, although it was not unusually
fat." As compared with the solitary he says " it
was plainly a longer and a larger framed bird," but
in all respects, except in size, " it was a veritable
8colopax gallinago." Curiously enoug'h this bird
was also shot near Horning Ferry. Mr. Gould, who
has seen my specimen, considers that it may be the
fully adult of his Gallinago russata, or " russet snipe,""^
a name which he proposes m his "Birds of Great
Britain " for this large race of snipes (of which
examples have been killed in other parts of tlie United
Kingdom),t should it hereafter be considered worthy

* A specimen of this snipe, presented to the l^orwich Museum
by Mr. Eobert Birkbeck (" British Series," No. 234b), and said to
have been killed in the West of England, measures three inches
and one-eighth along the upper mandible, but shows much less
white on the under parts, and is altogether more russet in tint than
mine, and is apparently a less mature bird.

t In the " Zoologist " for 1855 (p. 4704) Mr. E. H. Eodd, of
Penzance, describes a " supposed new snipe," of which he had
occasionally met with examples since the year 1834. His descrip-
tion agrees very nearly with my bird, although I could scarcely
term the dorsal stripes narrower and " more obscure" than is usual
in the common snipe ; the very dark tints of the back, the rich
rufous of the neck and shoulders, and the more " striated" flanks,
are all marked features in the Norfolk bird ; and he also refers to
the general richness of colouring in these snijjes, even when
killed in mid-winter. Mr. Gatcombe, of Plymouth, having ex-
amined two snipes similar to those described by Mr. Eodd, remarks,
in the "Zoologist" for 1862 (p. 7938), upon their peculiar features,
but states that " the bill and tarsi especially appear very short when
compared with the large size of the body," which in my specimen
is certainly not the case. He adds, however, that "all sports-
men, who have killed the bird remark that it rises without noise."
(See also the " Zoologist " for 1866, pp. 97 and 302 ; and the "Field,"
of November 28th, 1868).

COMMON SNIPE. 333

of specific distinction, but tlds is not, I imagine, at
all likely.

Scolopax hrehmi having the two outer tail feathers
somewhat elongated, of which an example in Mr. J.
H. Gurnej's collection was shot some years back, at
Earlham, near Norwich, is now, I believe, considered
to be merely a common snipe, with the middle tail-
quills not grown to their full length.

Pied and other varieties are met vnth at times. A.
very beautiful specimen, resembling in appearance the
buff-coloured woodcock described at p. 295, was shot
at Guestwick in December, 1851. The ground colour in
this bird was pure white ; the usual markings being
delicately traced in light and dark shades of buff,*
with the beak and legs pink instead of green. Another
curiously marked snipe, having the head and neck
white, streaked and dotted with dark brown and
yellowish markings, the remainder of the plumage of
the usual tint, interspersed with white feathers, and
the legs and beak yellowish white, was killed in this
county in December, 1856. Again, in the autumn of
. 1866, as I am informed by Mr. Anthony Hamond, jun.,
a pure white snipe was killed on Walton Common,
when the Prince of Wales, with other sportsmen, was
shooting over that part of the Westacre estate. This
very interesting specimen is now preserved at Sand-
ringham Hall. Messrs. Gurney and Fisher have also
recorded a singular malformation of beak in this species,
a snipe examiaed by them having had the beak "for

* Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., has recorded in the " Zoologist " for
1868 (p. 1459), a somewhat similar variety in his own collection,
which was purchased by Mr. Gatcombe, of Plymouth, in Leaden-
hall Market, about the 3rd of September. " It is fawn coloured,
retaining, however, all the zigzag mottling of the normal plumage,
but so faint as to be hardlj^ discernible."

334 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

considerably more than half its length, turned up like
an avocet's."*

Snipes, like woodcocks, plovers, and other marsh
birds, are not nn frequently found dead under the
telegraph wires, having flown against them in their
nocturnal flights ; but some three or four years since a
snipe was knocked down by the sails of a mill at
Dilham, in this county, in a very remarkable manner.
The bird rose from a field near a mill belonging to
Mr. H. Ladell, of that place, in such a direction
that, the machinery being in rapid motion at the time,
it had one of its wings cut off" by the sails, quite close
to the body, as if severed with a knife. This occur-
rence happened on the 9th of May, and it is just
possible that the bird at that time had a nest close by,
and was in the habit of perching on the mill sails when
stationary.

SCOLOPAX GALLINULA, Linn^us.
JACK SNIPE.

The Jack or "half" Snipe, as a migrant only, visits
us regularly in spring and autumn, frequenting the
same localities as the "whole" snipe, but in its movements
leading a perfectly independent existence. At times
when the "whole" snipes are most plentiful, scarcely any
jacks are to be met with; and occasionally, also, some
favourite marsh may be found full of jacks, and hardly
a " whole " snipe be seen in a day's shooting.

In autumn they usually make their appearance

* Mr. J. H. Gurney lias since seen a similar specimen killed
in Sussex, but with the beak not quite so much recurved.

JACK SNIPE. 335

about the middle or end of September, altliough strag-
glers liave been occasionally observed at an earlier date.
Mr. Lubbock states that on the 1st of August, 1833, he
saw a jack snipe, killed on Barton Fen. " The bird was
in good plumage and condition," and he believed it had
" migrated earlier than its wonted time." In 1831
he* saw a couple that had been shot on the 12th of
September, and he has seen others as early as the 8th.
I have also notes of a couple seen by myself in 1852,
which had been shot at Barton on the 14th of Sep-
tember.'^ As with the common snipes, however, the
jacks are most plentiful, and more generally dispersed
during October and November ; and though the larger
number may take their departure during severe weather,
yet even more in proportion than the common snipes,
resort during prolonged frosts to our inland springs and
water-courses, where, in certain sheltered nooks, they
are always found in high condition. Whether less
susceptible of cold, owing to their sluggish habits
and rapid tendency to fatten, this species is certainly
hardier than its more active kmdred ; for on more than
one occasion I have flushed several couples of jacks
from the open marshes at Surlingham, when a frost, of
two or three days' duration, had driven all the "whole"
snipes from that neighbourhood. Upon this habit of
taking the rough with the smooth, and still getting
fat under trying circumstances, Mr. Lubbock aptly
remarks, " a driving wind, intermixed with sleet, often
sets all the "whole" snipes upon a range of marsh in
motion. They are perpetually changing place, and
fly in small parties round and round, shrieking out

* In the " Zoologist" for 1868 (p. 1029), Mr. Cordeaux records a
jack snipe as shot by himself in a turnip-field, in ITorth Lincoln-
shire, on the 26th of September; and another correspondent
(p. 1059), states that on the 24th of August, of the same year, he
flushed a jack snipe in some water meadows, near Dorchester.

33G BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

their disgust at tlie storm. Not so tlie jack ; the lee-
side of a tuft of grass, or a small piece of turf, affords
him shelter, and there he ensconces himself with philo-
sophic patience." When flushed the jack snipe emits
no cry, but with a somewhat slow though tortuous flight
mounts up gradually for a short distance, and then
abruptly pitches down into any convenient shelter. The
reluctance of the jack to take Aving, whether on a marsh
or by the sedgy margin of a river or drain, is well
known, and the bird has acquired, from its apparent
indifference to the sound of approaching footsteps or
the report of firearms, the French name of Becassine
sourdej but as the hare, though conscious of danger,
will, hoping to escape detection, crouch down in her
form rather than trust to her swiftness of foot, so
this species, I imagine, relies for safety in concealment,
and rises only when compelled to do so. It is a very
usual thing on the broads, when rowing round the
edges of the reed-beds — looking for snipes on the mown
"hoves," to get two or three shots at the ^^ whole" snipes
as they twist over the reeds, and then, on sending a dog
on to the treacherous soil, to flush one or two jacks that
would not otherwise have shown themselves. In like
manner, when carefully looking a marsh for the second
time in the day a stamich dog will usually find one or
more jacks that had been passed over before ; and even
a bird that has been flushed and escaped to a distance,
will not unfrequently be found in an hour or two in its
former hauiit. I remember on the 24th of October,
1859, during a somewhat early frost, finding five couples
and a half of jack snipes in one corner of a marsh,
which, judging from the " borings " all over the soil,
was a most attractive spot. These birds rose one at a
time, as the marshman and myself quartered the ground
carefully, and those that I missed or had no chance
of shooting at dropped again within twenty yards of

JACK SNIPE. 337

US. Once as my attention was directed, whilst re-loading,
to the nnmerons borings in the marsh, I saw a jack squat-
tmg down, in a little tuft of grass, within a yard or two of
my feet, and in spite of my two barrels having just been
discharged,* it rose only when the man walked straight
up to it. Another curious incident, which occurred at
the same time, particularly marks the occasion in my
mind. The marsh in question was bordered on one side
by a wide drain, having a sKghtly raised bank, covered
with coarse grass and sedges, and at a particular spot,
close to the water's edge, I had marked down a jack
and felt quite sure of finding it again. On walking up
to the very tuft where I had seen it ahght, I stamped
my foot, and instantly, to my utter astonishment, a
magnificent cock pheasant rose from under the bank,
and evidently by the noise he made was as much taken
aback as myself at our unlooked for meeting. I am
not ashamed to own that I was nowhere with my first
barrel, but the second landed the unlucky truant from
some neighbouring coverts, safely on the opposite
marsh. What became of that jack snipe I cannot say.
In days of belief in sorcery and witchcraft I should
probably have decided that it changed into a cock
pheasant on purpose to bother me. All I know is that
I never saw it again.

By many authors, and even by so accurate an
observer as Macgillivray, the jack snipe has been termed
solitary, but although single birds raay be found here
and there, a careful search would, in all probability,
discover one or more close by ; at least such has inva-
riably been my own experience. Unlike the "whole"

* I once fluslied a "whole" snipe from under a wooden railway
bridge, over which, a heavy train had just passed, shaking the
whole edifice; yet the snipe lay there undisturbed, until my
footsteps alarmed it, when it started from under the bridge,
and I dropped it on the " line " with a snap shot.
2 X

338 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

snipes, jacks never rise in ^' wisps," but, as shown by
the number I found myself, all gathered togetlier
within a very small space, they certainly congregate on
the ground. As a further proof, also, of the inde-
pendent action of this species, I could give many
instances of their being found in numbers, almost
exceeding the largest flights of the " whole " snipes ; at
times, also, when not a single bird of the larger sj)ecies
has been seen in the day. Yet, as a rule, perhaps
Thompson's^ estimate is not far wrong that jacks are
*'in the proportion of about one fourth of the common
species." Mr. Lubbock states that " in October, 1824,
in two days' shooting, thirty-seven snipes were killed
by a friend, only five of which were ^' whole " snipes,
and that later in the same month nineteen jack snipes
were shot in one morning, and only one opportunity
afforded of firing at a "whole" bird. When thus
abundant it is evident that any one accustomed to the
flight of a jack snipe will make a much larger bag than
it would be possible to do with the larger species, which,
' rising several at a time and not waiting to be '^' walked
up," have the chances much in their favour. About the
year 1845, Mr. Rising, of Horsey, with a friend, killed
in his own marshes thirty-five couples of jack snipes.
His companion, however, did not arrive till about eleven
o'clock, by which time Mr. Rising had bagged ten
couples and a shorteared owl, missing only one or two
shots. Even more might have been killed had they
continued shooting. On two or three other occasions
he has met with similar extraordinary flights of jacks,
and remembers when a very young sportsman, shooting
away a pound of powder and cleaning his gun in the

* See Thompson's " Birds of Ireland " (vol. ii. p. 278) for the
returns of a snipe-shooter's bag, in the nighbourhood of Belfast,
from 1835 to 1842 inclusive. In the north of Ireland he considers
that jack snipes have greatly increased of late years.

JACK SNIPE. 339

course of tlie day, tlie bag amounting to fifteen couples
of jacks,* wliicli, with good shooting, might have been
doubled. In these instances, also, " whole " snipes
were either very scarce or altogether absent.

In spring the jacks and " whole " snipes make their
appearance about the same time, and, as Mr. Lubbock
remarks, " are often found in pairs for a fortnight pre-
vious to their departure ; and at that period they
occasionally emit a feeble piping note when flushed."
Notwithstanding, however, their late stay with us at
times in the spring, particularly with a prevalence of
north-easterly winds, and the fact that stragglers have
been met with during the summer months, there seems
no reason to suppose that the jack snipe has ever bred
in Norfolk, even though the late Mr. Stephen Miller, of
Yarmouth, is stated by Messrs. Paget to have had jack
snipes' eggs brought to him ;t and Yarrell in his paper
on our British snipes in Loudon's " Magazine " (vol. ii.,
p. 144), says of the jack snipe in Norfolk, it "has been
known (though very rarely) to breed in our marshes."
It is by no means unusual to observe jack snipes
hanging for sale in the Norwich Market, between the
first and second ^eek in April, and in cold backward
seasons as late as the 24th, J or even into the following

* Mr. J. H. Grurney informs me tliat on one occasion he looked
over a large hamper of snipes from Cornwall, in Leadenhall
Market, which, as far as he examined them, were all jacks.

f Mr. Lubbock, in his communication to Yarrell, remarks,
" The eggs which have once or twice been oftered to me as
those of the jack snipe were those of the purre, and I regret I can
say nothing in favour of its breeding in Norfolk." The purre or
dunlin, however, does not breed in ISTorfolk, though eggs may
have been found dropped at random by those bu'ds before quitting
our shores.

J Mr. Harting informs me that on the 14th of April, 1868, he
flushed two jack snipes on a heath at West Harting, in Sussex,
2x2

340 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

month.* On the 29th of May, 1853, a smgle bu-d was
shot at Hickling, but no more were seen. Mr. Lubbock
with the late Mr. Girdlestone found a pair of jack snipes
on Brad well Common, on the 1st of May, 1827 ;t but
a farther search on the 8th proved fruitless. Both Mr.
Lubbock and the Messrs. Paget, also, refer to a reward
of one sovereign, offered by Mr. Girdlestone, to any
one who could bring him a specimen of this bird shot
in our marshes in summer. In July, 1825, a fenman
named Hewitt, brought him one which he had watched,
from time to time, from the beginning of May, in a
swamp near his house. On the 2nd of July he went
to look for it in order to claim his reward, and found it
in the old spot so sluggish and feeble that after a little
trouble he succeeded in knocking it down with his hat.
This bhdjj says Mr. Lubbock, to whom it was after-
wards presented by Mr. Girdlestone, " was ragged in
plumage, lean, and scm-fy to a degree," and no doubt
had, either from disease or some previous injury, been
unable to migrate. Mr. Ghdlestone is also said to
have "killed one m high feather, on Belton Bog, July
21st, 1826," possibly a very early arrival from the

which he again put up and shot the following day. They proved
to be only in a state of half change to their nesting plumage, and
were hoth females.

* In the " Zoologist " for 184-9 (p. 2456), ]VIi\ P. E. Hansell, of
Thorpe, near Norwich, states that on the 2nd of May, in the
marshes between Thorpe and Postwick, he flushed a jack snipe,
but " in a very weak state and could hardly fly." But no reliance
can, of course, be placed on the assertion of the Norwich bird-
stufier, who told Mr. Hansell that one or two nests had been
taken here in that year.

■\ This occurred in May, not June, as stated by Messrs. Paget.
See Lubbock's " Fauna," p. 82, and his communication to Yarrell
(« British Birds," vol. iii. p. 36).

X I have recently examined this bird in Mr. Newcome's collec-
tion, at Feltwell, to whom it was presented by Mr. Lubbock.

JACK SNIPE. 341

nortli. Mr. A. Hamond, jun., informs me that he
once found a jack snipe in a swampy part of East
Walton Common, in June, but had no reason to suppose
that the bird had a nest there; and in June, 1868, a
single bird of this species was seen by Riche, the
broadman, at Surlingham; yet all such instances are
no more evidence of this species intending to breed
here'^ than the presence on our coast throughout the
summer of a few dunUns, sanderlings, or grey plover.

The fact of the jack snipe during the breeding season
emitting a strange noise when on the wing, yet diifering
altogether from the " drumming " of the common
species, appears to have been first noticed by the late
Mr. Wolley. The following interesting description of it
from the pen of that accomplished naturalist, is pub-
lished by Hevdtson {" Eggs of Brit. Bds.," 3rd ed.) : —
" It was on the 17th of June, 1853, in the great marsh of
Muonioniska that I first heard the jack snipe, though at
the time I could not at all guess what it was ; an extra-
ordinary sound unlike anything I had heard before. I
could not tell from what direction it came, and it filled
me with a curious surprise; my Finnish interpreter
thought it was a capercally, and at that time I could
not contradict him, but soon I found that it was a small
bird ghding at a wild pace, at a gTeat height over the
marsh. I know not how better to describe the noise
than by likening it to the cantering of a horse in the

* In Mr. A. Gr. More's paper " on the Distribution of Birds in
Great Britain during the nesting season " I find the following
observations (" Ibis," 1865, p. 438) : — " A few instances are on
record in. which the jack snipe has been seen in England dui'ing
the summer months ; hitherto there appears to be no good
authority for believing that the nest has been found in this island."
In Lapland, Mr. A. Newton informs me the jack snipe seldom lays
before the middle of June at the earliest, and constantly breeds
quite into August.

342 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

distance, over a hard hollow road ; it came in fours
with a similar cadence, and a like clear yet hollow
sound. -^ "^ •^ It was not long after I heard it that
I ascertained that the remarkable hammering noise in
the air was made by the jack snipe." Some four of
five nests of the jack snipe were found at this time by
Mr. WoUey, at Karto Uoma, and identified by the
capture of the parent birds, one of which allowed hun
to touch it with his hand before it rose. The nests
were " alike in structure, made loosely of little pieces of
grass and equisetum, not at all woven together, with a
few old leaves of the dwarf birch, placed in a dry sedgy
or grassy spot, close to a more open swamp."

The extraordinary disproportion in size between the
eggs of the jack snipe and the bird itself is even more
surprising than in the case of the common species, since,
to adopt Mr. Hewitson's description, " they are precisely
of the same length as those of the snipe, but are of less
width across the broadest part. The bird weighs about
two ounces. The four eggs are more than an ounce and
a half. The great egg of the guillemot is one eighth of
the weight of the bird ; the eggs of the jack snipe weigh
nearly as much as it does itself." The eggs of this
snipe are subject also to much variation in size and
colouring. According to Mr. Gould " there is but little
external difference in the appearance of the sexes, one
style of plumage being common to both;" but in the
breeding season the colour of their plumage is intensified
in the rich metallic tints of purple, green, and buff.
Some of those killed here in autumn retain the rich
purple colour on the upper tail coverts.'^

* From a communication to the " Zoologist " for 1868, by Mr.
E. H. Rodd, of Penzance (p. 1220), it would seem that the jack snipe
moults all its tail feathers simultaneously in the spring. A speci-
men brought to him on the 4th of April had an entire new tail

Sabine's snipe. 343

The stomachs of two shot by Mr. J. E. Harting-, near
Yarmouth, contained, in one, the remains of a crab
and five or six small univalves, genus Turho ; the other^
small beetles and grit.

SCOLOPAX SABINII, Vigors.
SABINE'S SNIPE.

Whether this singular bird is entitled or not to
specific rank I must leave to abler ornithologists than
myself to decide, but although the opinion unques-
tionably gains ground that it is a variety only of the
common snipe, I consider that with some future Selby
or Yarrell must rest the responsibility of removing it
from the " List" of British Birds. Under these circum-
stances the occurrence of a single example of the
so-called Sabine's Snipe in Norfolk, enables me to
introduce it for the first time amongst the more recent
additions to the avi-fauna of this county.

On the 17th of October, 1856, a bird answering in
every respect to the description of this snipe, as given
by Mr. Vigors in the fourteenth volume of the Linnean
Society's "Transactions" (as republished by Yarrell and
others), was shot in a turnip field at Rainham, near
Pakenham, by Mr. Martin Tupper Smith, and was after-
wards preserved for the son of that gentleman, then an
undergraduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, by Mr.
Baker, of that town. Mr. Osbert Salvin, who had the

" sprouting," whicli " had grown three-quarters of an inch, the bases
of the feathers being, of course, in a succulent state." If this
late moulting be really a fact, and not an accidental occurrence, it
may in some measure help to account for the late breeding.

344 BIRDS OF NORFOLK .

opportunity of examining this bird in the flesh,* in
referring to my announcement of its occurrence in the
"Zoologist" for 1857 (p. 5427) makes the following
interesting remarks upon it in the same journal (p.
5593), his conclusions tending, however, with others to
a belief in its being a variety of S. gallinago, and not a
true species. Having mentioned the differences, though
slight, observable both in the description and plates of
this bird as given by Gould, Yarrell, Jardine and Selby,
Macgillivray and Meyer, he observes: "The above differ-
ences are slight, it is true, but all tend to show that the
plumage is not constant ; and when we consider to how
much variety ;S^. gallinago is subject, especially the under
surface of the wing, which presents every variety of mark-
ing from white to the other extreme, it requires no very
wide gap in the chain of the series to suppose ;S^. Sahmii
to be the result of an excess of colour in the same way
as the cream coloured varieties, which sometimes occur,
may be said to be due to an absence of colour." The
measurements of this bird, a female, as given by Mr.
Salvin, are as follows : — " Weight, four ounces ; whole
length, eleven and six-twelfths of an inch; length of
wing from flexure, five inches ; stretch of wings,
sixteen and nine-twelfths of an inch; beak measured
along the ridge, two and eleven-twelfths of an inch ;
along the edge of the under mandible, two and eight-
twelfths of an inch ; tarsus, one and five-twelfths of
an inch ; middle toe, one and three-twelfths of an
inch ; its claw, five-twenty-fourths of an inch ; outer
toe, one and one-twenty-fourth of an inch ; its claw,
two-twelfths of an inch ; inner toe, twenty-one-twenty-
fourths of an inch ; its claw, two-twelfths of an inch ;

* A photograph of this Norfolk specimen, presented by Mr. A.
Newton, will be found in the Committee-room of the Norwich
Museum.

Sabine's snipe. 345

hind toe, four-twelfths and its claw, three twenty-fourths
of an inch ; tibia bare for three lines above the tarsal
joint ; toes all separate ; first and second primary quills
the same length ; number of tail feathers eleven ; colour
of legs olive green ; iris dark hazel." Of the colour of
the beak, he says, " I regret I can say nothing, for the
bird having been killed five days when I saw it, had
faded apparently in this respect, as also the legs and
iris, though the above colours, doubtless darker in the
case of the legs than when alive, were quite distinct."
Not having completed its autumn moult, the feathers
of the tail and wings were imperfect ; of the former,
Mr. Salvin counted eleven, but was able to detect
satisfactorily the absence of three, making the total
number equal to those of the common snipe ; and com-
paring also the sterna of S. sdbinii and the common
species, he says, *'I am able to state that no specific
diiference, or rather no difference at all, exists; the
length and breadth of the sternum, the curvature and
depth of the keel, and the curvature of the fiircula, all
correspond exactly in each ; in fact, it is impossible to
distinguish them, and this is testimony in favour of the
species being the same, of no small value, for Mr.
Alfi'ed Newton, whose valuable collection of breastbones
exhibits specimens of several species of Scolopax, assures
me that a very marked difference subsists between the
sterna of every member of the genus with which he is
acquainted, and made special reference to those of 8.
gallinago and S. wilsoni species which, be it remem-
bered, were for some time confounded ; he also showed
me the sterna of 8. major and 8. gallinula, which
differed materially from each other, and from either of
the above."

Not the least singular feature in the history of this
bird, is the fact that hitherto it has not been met with
out of the British Islands, a circumstance equally re-
2 Y

346 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

markable whether the bird is regarded as a melanism
of S. galUnago, or as a new and distinct species.

Several examples have now been recorded in various
parts of England, and at least ten in Ireland, on the
authority of Mr. Thompson, including the original one
described by Mr. Vigors, which was shot in Queen's
county, on the 21st of August, 1822 ; and one now in
the Norwich Museum (No. 236), presented by Mr.
Alfred Newton, who procured it from the Museum
of Trinity College, Dublin, which at that time possessed
several other local specimens. An example recorded
and minutely described by Mr. Hearle Rodd, of
Penzance ("Zoologist," p. 7882), as having been killed
near Carnauton, in Cornwall, in January, 1862, was
examined, amongst other naturalists, by Mr. Gould,
whose previous opinion as to its want of specific distinc-
tion was confirmed by the appearance of fourteen tail-
feathers as in 8. galUnago, and not twelve only as
described by Mr. Vigors, which agrees with Mr. Salvin's
account of the Norfolk bird ; and two specimens men-
tioned by Thompson in his " Birds of Ireland," had
each thirteen tail-feathers, having evidently lost one.
In this important point, therefore, the "black snipe"
resembles S. galUnago. Another alleged difference
between this bird and the common snipe, that it makes
no cry on being fiushed, seems equally unfounded, as
Thompson states in his "Birds of Ireland" of two
birds shot ; one that rose with the common snipes did
not ' squeak,' as the latter usually do when sprung, and
that after being once fired at, it perched quite near
again like a jack snipe. The other rose in company
with a common snipe, and uttered a similar cry, but
for which it would have escaped, as its colour led the
sportsman at first sight to believe it to be a water-
rail.

Mr. J. E. Harting, who has examined no less than

Sabine's snipe. 347

five specimens of this snipe, gives the following reasons
(" Birds of Middlesex ") for considering it a distinct
species, but has evidently overlooked the discovery in
recent examples of more than twelve tail-feathers.
" Firstly," he says, " in S. sabinii there is a total
absence of white in the plumage, and none of the buff
coloured markings on the head and back which appear
in 8. galUnago ; secondly, the number of tail-feathers
in S. sabinii is twelve, whereas S. gallinago has fourteen ;
thirdly, the tarsus in >S'. sabinii is stouter and about
an eight of an inch shorter than in S. gallinago;
fourthly, in S. sabinii the eye is placed much higher
in the head, as in S. rusticola ; and lastly, if ;S^.
sabinii were only a variety of S. gallinago^ however
dark in colour the feathers might be, they would at
all events be of the same shape. But it will be observed
that in S. gallinago the feathers of the back are lanceo-
late in form, while in S. sabinii they are more ovate;
in this respect more resembling S. rusticola.''^ The
latter is unquestionably the most important reason yet
assigned for giving specific rank to this feathered par-
adox ; but on the other hand, Mr. Alfred Newton, in a
recent communication on this point, remarks — " I have
seen, and more or less fully examined, no fewer than a
dozen specimens of Sabine's snipe, and, on one occasion,
I had the opportunity of comparing five together. I
am strongly disposed to doubt its specific rank and to
regard it as being only a melanoid variety of the
common species. I have good reason for suspecting
that all the examples I have seen were birds of the
year, and if so, one fact to which Mr. Harting in his
' Birds of Middlesex ' has adverted, is satisfactorily
explained, for I beheve that in the common snipe the
young of the year have the scapular feathers less pointed
than the adult. I am, however, unable at present to
speak positively on this subject, and the question must
2 Y 2

348 BIRDS OF NORFOliK.

therefore continue open." Mr. Cordeanx, also, who has
of late been paying great attention to the parasites
peculiar to different birds, informs me that after a most
careful microscopic examination of a parasite taken
from a recently killed specimen* of Sabine's snipe, he
could find no difference between it and the ordinary
parasites found on the common snipe.

MACRORHAMPHUS GRISEUS, Leach.

BEOWN SNIPE.

The Eed-breastedj Brown, or Grey, Snipe, as this
American species is variously termed from its seasonal
changes of plumage,t has been procured in this county
in at least three well authenticated instances. The
first, killed at Yarmouth in the autumn of 1836,J is
described by Yarrell as in the collection of the Rev.
Leonard Eudd, of Yorkshire, who forwarded the bird
to London for his inspection. A second example is
thus recorded by the late Mr. Hoy in the "■ Annals
of Natural History" for 1841 (vol. vi., p. 236). "We

* This bird, La the possession of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., was
shot by Mr. C. Churchill, on the 7th of May, 1868, at Wareham,
in Dorsetshire. On dissection Mr. Gurney found it to be a female,
apparently a bird of the year, and a single parasite discovered
amongst the feathers, was forwarded by him to Mr. Cordeanx for
examination.

t Red in summer, brown in autumn, and grey in winter.

J This specimen is also recorded in the "Annals of Natural
History" for 1839 (vol. iii., p. 140), by Mr. Thomas Paine, jun., of
Yarmouth, who states that it " was shot on Yarmouth beach, in
October, 1836, and had not completely obtained its winter plumage
when procured." He had been favoured with a sight of this bird
by Mr. Leonard Rudd.

BROWN SNIPE. 349

learn from Mr. J. H. Gurney that a specimen of the
red-breasted snipe was killed near Yarmouth early in
October. Our informant adds that it was a male, and
had nearly completed its change from summer to the
winter plumage." This bird, which was formerly in
Mr. S. Miller's collection at Yarmouth is now in Mr. J.
H. Gurney's possession, together with another specimen
said to have been killed at Eunton, near Cromer, in 1840.
A recent examination, however, of the latter with the
testimony of the late Mr. John Sayer, of Norwich, who
stuffed it, leaves no doubt on my mind that it was origi-
nally set up from a skin, and in that condition, and not
in the " flesh," made its first appearance in Norfolk. In
fact, there appears to be as httle authority for this speci-
men as for the spotted sandpiper before referred to, which
was said to have been killed at the same place and was
sold to Mr. Gurney by the same individual. In Mr.
G. E. Gray's "Catalogue of British Birds" in the
British Museum, two specimens are entered as forming
part of that collection — Colonel Montagu's in winter
plumage from Devonshire, and one purchased in 1850,
marked "Norfolk, very young, from Mr. J. Baker's
collection." In the absence of any record of this nest-
ling in our natural history journals (although being in
immature plumage it would, as a genuine British
example, have been peculiarly interesting) I am inclined
to doubt altogether the locality assigned to it. The
Mr. Baker alluded to is, as I learn from Mr. Gray, "a
dealer in such articles," and on such authority alone
I cannot certainly include it as an authentic local
specimen.

The last that I am aware of as killed in this county,
which is now in Mr. Eising's collection at Horsey, was
shot by himself, in his own marshes, on the 9th of
October, 1845, a male bird, changing from summer to
winter plumage, and which was in company with another

350 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

which he did not shoot at as it was raining hard at the
time, and from a hurried glance at the one he had
killed, he took it for nothing more than a young
redshank.

This species is abundant in the United States of
America, where it frequents the sea shore more than
marshy ground, and is rarely seen inland. According
to Yarrell, owing to the bill being "intermediate in
its length between that of the true snipe's and sand-
piper's, and some other peculiarities in which it also
differs from both," it was placed in a separate genus by
Dr. Leach under the term Macrorhamphus, which has
been generally adopted. It is the red-breasted snipe
of Wilson, and according to Audubon it is termed
Becassine de mer by the Creoles of Louisiana. Mr.
Osbert Salvin, who found it a very common wader on
the sand-banks of the Pacific coast of Guatemala,"^
remarks — " I used always to see it feeding in the open
where there was no cover whatever, its habits strongly
contrasting in this respect with the common snipe to
which it is closely allied."

TRINGA SUBARQUATA, Temminck.

CUELEW SANDPIPER.

This species, known also as the Pigmy Curlew, is not
unfrequently met with on our coast, both in spring and
autumn, and more particularly in the latter season.
From my own observations, more specimens seem to be
obtained in September and October than at any other
time. Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, in their " Cata-
logue of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds," remark (1825)

* See " Ibis" for 1865, second series, p. 191.

CURLEW SANDPIPER. 351

" several of these birds have been killed at Yarmouth in
the autumn. One of them which was shot at that place
in the month of August, had a red breast, and was in
plumage similar to the one in a summer dress preserved
in the British Museum.* We have met with this
species on Pewit Island. It is more solitary than the
dunlin, not more than a pair being seen together ; and
is a stupid bird, suffering a boat to approach close to it.
The legs of this bird, when fresh killed, are of a pale
green, but when dried they appear black." As with most
of our rare waders, more specimens have been procured
on Breydon than on any other part of the coast, and
the late Mr. J. D. Hoy has recorded in the " Magazine
of Natural History" (new series, vol. i., p. 117), the
occurrence of several specimens in summer plumage,
near Yarmouth, in May, 1836. At Blakeney Mr.
Dowell describes them as "not very rare, occurring
for the most part singly amongst flocks of dunlins,
and are easily distinguishable by their gait and longer
bill and conspicuous white tail coverts." Examples
in the rich red plumage of the breeding season are occa-
sionally met with, either late in spring or on their return
from their breeding grounds at the close of the summer.
Mr. Gurney possesses a fine specimen in this plumage,
killed on Breydon; and Yarrell, who was well acquainted
with our Norfolk coast, says, " I have obtained this bird
in June, in the height of its summer plumage, from
Norfolk, and have seen the young from the same locality
early in July." There is, of course, no reason to
suppose that this species has ever remained to breed in
this county, and the young birds above referred to must.

* A Norfolk specimen in winter plumage, presented by the
Rev. W. Whitear, is preserved amongst the British birds in the
British Museum, together with a Yarmouth specimen in summer
dress presented by Mr. C. Hubbard.

352 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

therefore, have commenced their southward passage thus
early, in company with their parents, which supposition
agrees with the statement of Messrs. Gumey and Fisher,
that they arrive " about the end of July."

The specimen figured by Selby in his " British Orni-
thology," commencing the change to winter plumage, is
stated by that author to have been tilled "on the
Norfolk coast, in company with several others, which
had nearly acquired the winter garb," and was presented
to him by the late Mr. H. Grirdlestone, of Yarmouth.
This is one of the few instances in which they have been
observed in any quantity at one time, but in the autumn
of 1858, when an unusual number of sj)ecimens were
procured on difPerent parts of our coast, four out of five,
as Mr. Dowell informs me, were shot in Cley channel by
Overton, the gunner, on the 7th of September, one of
which was then in full summer plumage.

The following are a few instances of the occurrence
of this species in Norfolk that have come under my
notice during the last few years : —

1851. October 2nd. A pair killed at Yarmouth.

1853. March 19th. One near Haddiscoe. September
8th. One in full red plumage, and a young bird of the
year, from Salthouse. October 1st. Three specimens
from Yarmouth, besides the four before noticed as killed
at Blakeney in September of that year.

1854. October 4th. A pair killed on Breydon, in
company with one or two little stints. These are pro-
bably the same birds recorded by Mr. Southwell, in the
'^ Naturalist," for January, 1855. A pair in Captain
Longe's collection killed at Yarmouth about this date.

1861. October. One inland, near Swaffham.

1863. May. A handsome male, in full summer
plumage, killed on Breydon, now in Mr. J. E. Harting's
collection, together with another male, in a state of
change, killed by himself on Breydon, on the last day of

CUELEW SANDPIPER. 353

September. This bird, as stated by Mr. Harting, in the
"Zoologist" (p. 8827), was feeding alone, with the excep-
tion of a flock of gulls, on a mud flat, and allowed him
to approach within forty yards before it rose. It uttered
two sharp notes, not unlike a dunlin, but the wings
looked longer, and the white tail coverts at once
distinguished the species. The stomach contained the
remains of small worms, coleopterous insects, and a few
minute pebbles. Sej)tember. One shot at Blakeney, in
the collection of Mr. Beverley Leeds, of Lexham.

1865.^ September 12th. One killed at Blakeney,
in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun.

1866. April 27th. A fine red bird, killed on Breydon,
by Mr. F. Harmer, in company with five grey plover
and two dunlins, all of which were bagged at one shot
with a punt gun. Two of the grey plover in nearly
full summer plumage. This Mr. Harmer believes to
have been the only bird of this species seen on Breydon
during that season.

* Mr. Fenwick Hele, of Aldeburgh, who has during the last
few years procured several specimens of this sandpiper on that
part of the Suffolk coast, has pubUshed the following notes on
this species from time to time : —

"Field," 1865, September 16th. "Altogether about fifteen
curlew sandpipers have been shot at Thorpe and elsewhere in this
locality during the past and present months [August and Sep-
tember]. I have never met with them here before."

" Field," 1866, August 4th. " A good specimen of the curlew
sandpiper, in summer plumage, was brought me last week."

"Field," 1867, August 24th. "August 3rd. Two pigmy
curlews, in summer plumage, were killed at Thorpe this morning."

"Field," 1867, May 25th. "On May 2nd, a most beautiful
pigmy curlew," was killed with several grey plovers and turnstones,
in full summer plumage.

" Land and Water," 1867, October 25th. " Four kiUed within
a few days." See also " Zoologist " for 1867, pp. 960 and 991.
2 z

354 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

TRINGA CANUTUS, Linn^us.

KNOT.

This species is a regular and at times very numerous
visitant to our coast, both in spring and autumn, and
occasionally, if detained by a prevalence of north-
easterly winds on its northward passage in May,"^ many
beautiful specimens, in full summer plumage, are pro-
cured, in company with godwits, turnstones, grey-
plovers, and other migratory shore birds. This was
particularly the case in the cold spring of 1853, which
I have before noticed as a memorable season for our
local collectors; and at that time, between the 10th
and 27th of May, an extraordinary number of red
Knots from different parts of the coast were sent up to
Norwich to be stuffed. On the 13th of May, as recorded
by Mr. J. H. Gurney in the " Zoologist" (p. 3946), " a
single gunner, at Yarmouth, procured seventy-three
knots all in full, or nearly full, summer dress, besides
several others which were obtained by other indi-
viduals." On the 14th, nine were killed out of a flock
of about a dozen, by a crow-keeper, on what was
formerly Salthouse Broad, but then sown with wheat;
and these, which I examined at the time, were almost
all in: their perfect nuptial dress. Between the
14th and 19th, seventeen were received by one of our
Norwich birdstuffers from Blakeney, and more inland
localities in the *' Broad" district, such as Hickhng,
Eockland, and Sutton; these birds, though essentially
shore feeders, occasionally frequenting the land at
some distance from the coast. Mr. Hunt speaks of
them as sometimes met with " far inland ;" and Mr.

* The specimen from which the figure in Yarrell's "British
Birds" was taken, was procured at Yarmouth on the 25th of
May, 1820.

KNOT. 355

Newcome has one in winter plumage, killed in Hock-
wold Fen. In the cold backward spring of 1864, they
were also plentiful at Yarmouth, but singularly enough
in May, 1866, when the bar-tailed godwits, in fine sum-
mer plumage, were so numerous on Breydon, scarcely
any knots were seen. In 1857, Mr. Do well saw three
at Blakeney, in company with dunlins, on the 27 th of
April, which still retained their full winter dress. A few
stragglers of this species, as of sanderlings and other
shore birds that never breed in Norfolk, may be met
with occasionally throughout the summer months, as
I have known specimens procured both in June and
July ; and in the second week of June, 1863, I saw one
at Hunstanton, with a small flock of dunlins.

Inspite of the high northern latitudes to which
these birds betake themselves for breeding purposes,
and their late stay on our shores, the return passage is
commenced very early in autumn. By the 9th of
August Mr. DoweU has observed both young and old
in Blakeney harbour, and I have known the young
birds of the year killed at Yarmouth on the 16th;
the time of their arrival, however, varies much in
different seasons. From Mr. Dowell's notes, I find that
in 1846 they began to arrive at Blakeney about the
20th of September, but in 1847 scarcely a bird had
been seen before the 5th of November. On the 9th of
September, 1848, he shot twenty-eight, and might
have killed many more, as they made their appearance
in small flocks of from five to twenty, and were very
tame. In 1850 very few were seen in the harbour at
Blakeney untU the first week of December, " when
flocks of many thousands appeared on the west sands."
Again in August, 1853, towards the end of the month,
they were very numerous in lots of from five to a
hundred. The first flights are described by Mr. Dowell
as by no means difficult of approach, " but as the season
2z2

356 BIKDS OP NORFOLK.

advances and more arrive, they assemble in larger
flocks, and are then much more wary, and except in
dirty weather are not to be approached but by aid of
a gunning punt. Those which arrive in August and
September usually leave again in October, and very
large flocks are but rarely seen before the end of
November." Overton, the Blakeney gunner, once shot
two hundred and thirty knots, twenty-five grey plovers,
and eighteen redshanks.

On Breydon these birds are seldom met with late in
the autumn, after the usual migratory flocks have passed
on, but Mr. J. E. Harting, who spent some days at
Yarmouth, in October, 1867, informs me that on the
26th he shot a solitary knot on the muds, which he
had observed in company with a few dunlins a day or
two before ; and this appeared to be the only one then
remaining in that neighbourhood. In whiter their
plenty or scarcity appears to depend much upon the
season, as I find by my own notes that during severe
frost and snow many are sent up to the Norwich market
from Yarmouth, Blakeney, and the shores of the Wash.
This was particularly the case during the very severe
weather which prevailed in February, 1853 ; January,
1862 ; and January, 1867.

The Eev. C. A. Johns, who has had opportunities
of observing the species in this comity, remarks
("British Birds in their Haunts"), "Some authors state
that it feeds principally early and late in the day, and
during moonlight nights; but I have seen it on the
coast of Norfolk, in winter, feeding at all hours of the
day in company with dunlins, sanderlings, and purple-
sandpipers, and differing little from these in the mode
of obtaining its food. But I remarked on several
occasions that when a flock was disturbed the knots
often remamed behind, being less fearful of the presence
of man; in consequence of which tardiness in rising

KNOT. 357

they more than once fell to our guns after their com-
panions had flown off. On their first arrival they are
said to be so indifferent to the vicinity of human beings,
that it is not difficult to knock them down with stones.
Their provincial name in Norfolk is the green-legged
shank ; the latter name "shank" being applied for short-
ness to the red shank."* In proof, also, of their unsuspi-
cious nature, Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear make the
followmg statement : — " We met with a flock of sixteen
in September last [1824] which, though repeatedly
shot at, would not leave the spot, and were all killed.
Some of them being wounded fell into the water, and
swam about with great ease."

These birds are considered extremely good eating,
and in former days appear to have been systematically
fattened for the table like quails and ortolans. Sir
Thomas Browne describes them as " taken with nets"
when "they grow excessively fat, being mewedf and
fed with corn. A candle lighted in the room, they
feed day and night, and when they are at their height
of fatness, they begin to grow lame, and are then
killed as at their prime and apt to declme."

In the L'Estrange "Household Book" knots are
twice mentioned with other waders — " Itm pd to hym
for a curlewe, a dosyn knotts, a dosyn redschanks and
stynts, ij teals — ij^- — ." "Itm pd to the fowler for
ijj dosyn and di [half] of knotts, — iiij^- — j^- — ;" and
are thus noticed in the Northumberland "Household

* For a good account of the habits of knots, dunlins, and grey-
plovers when feeding, see a paper by Mr. J, Cordeaux, in the
" Zoologist " for 1866 (p. 216).

t To " mew," properly signifying to moult, was in hawking days
used in another sense as in this passage, and signified to confine.
The places where hawks were kept when shedding their feathers
were called "mews," and hence the term apphed to the livery
stables in London at the present time.

358 BIKDS OF NORFOLK.

Book" — "Itm knottes for my Lorde at Principall
Teestes and no other tyme, and at a ]^- a pece, except
my Lordes commandment be otherwise."

The stomach of a specimen killed by Mr. Dowell,
at Blakeney, in the month of December, contained
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty small shells,
and in two examples killed in May, and examined by
Mr. Harting, were found, in one, three shells of the
common periwinkle ; and in the other one hundred and
fifty small bivalve shells belonging to the genera Bissoa
and Turbo.

TRINGA RUFESCENS, VieHlot.

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER.

This rare straggler from the American continent
was first included in the list of British birds by the
late Mr. Yarrell, who, in the sixteenth volume of the
the " Linnean Transactions," described " a species of
Tringa, killed in Cambridgeshire, new to England and
Europe."* The same author also, in some fiu-ther
remarks on this specimen, in his history of "British
Birds," says — " This bird was shot early in the month
of September, 1826, in the parish of Melbourne, in
Cambridgeshire, in company with some dotterel (Gha-
radrius morinellus), and passed immediately afterwards
into the possession of Mr. Baker, of Melbourne, by
whom the skin was preserved, and of whom it was
purchased by John Sims for me. A few years after-
wards Mr. John Sims, who had then removed to
Norwich, obtained a second example of this species,

* See also Eyton's " History of the rarer British Bii'ds " (p. 39),
with a figure of this bird.

BEOAD-BILLED BANDPIPEE. 359

wMcli was killed at Sherringham, on the coast of
Norfolk, and whicli he preserved for the Norwich
Museum." Amongst the British birds in that institu-
tion (No. 240) this local rarity, although in rather a
dilapidated condition, is still preserved, and according
to an entry in the donation book of that date, it was
killed at Sherringham, July 29th, 1832, and was pre-
sented by Mr. Arthur Upcher. Since that time three
other specimens, as recorded by Yarrell, have occurred in
this county, but not of late years. One at Yarmouth in
the autumn of 1839 or 1840, which came into the posses-
sion of the late Mr. Heysham, of CarHsle; another in
the same locality on the 22nd of September, 1841 ; and
another on the mud-flats of Breydon, September 20th,
1843. Of the latter, Mr. W. R. Fisher writes in the
"Zoologist" for 1843 (p. 363), "the bird had been ob-
served for two or three days on the same piece of mud,
in company with a ruff and a greenshank, the latter of
which birds was killed at the same time with it. The
sex was unnoticed." Both this and the preceding
bird are now in Mr. J. H. Gurney's collection.^

TRINGA PLATYRHYNCHA, Temminck.

BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER.

As stated by Yarrell, the first British killed speci-
men of this straggler from the north of Europe was

* The breeding grounds of this species have lately been found
in Arctic America by the collectors employed by the Smithsonian
Institution, and its egg has been figured in the " Proceedings "
of the Zoological Society for 1867 (pi. xv., fig. 4). It would seem
to be more nearly allied to the fresh-water or inland sandpipers
(Totanus) than to those of the shore (Tringa), and a new genus
Tryngitis has been instituted for its reception.

360 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

procured in Norfolk, and the particulars of its occur-
rence were thus described by the late Mr. J. D. Hoy,
in the "Magazine of Natural History" for 1837 (new
series, vol. i.;, p. 116) : — " It was shot on the 25th of
May, 1836, on the muddy flats of Breydon Broad. It
was in company with some dunlins and ring-plovers.
From the season of the year it had probably acquired
its summer plumage, and it very closely agrees with
the nuptial garb of the species as given by Temminck.
This bird is rather inferior in size to the dunlin, but may
be always readily distinguished from that species by
the peculiar form of the bill, as weU as by considerable
difference in plumage. This specimen was preserved
by a friend of mine,^ who did not notice the sex. It is
probable that this sandpiper may occasionally be found
on our eastern coasts during the time of its periodical
flights, but, from its similarity to one or two closely
allied species, has hitherto escaped detection." This
supposition has been fully borne out, insomuch as two
other examples have been since killed on Breydon, and
both having been picked out from amongst a number of
dunlins and ringed-plovers shot at the same time ; it is
more than probable that others may have been passed
over unnoticed. Of the two latter specimens, the first,
in Mr. J. H. Gurney's collection, was kiUed on Breydon,
May 25th, 1856, and proved to be a male, in breeding
plumage, as recorded by Mr. Gurney in the "Zoolo-
gist" (p. 5159). The second, in my own possession,
from which Mr. Gould has made a drawing for his
" Birds of Great Britain," I purchased, in the flesh, on

* In Dr. Eree's description of Mr, Hoy's collection of birds,
at Stoke Nayland, published in the " Field " of 1867 (vol. xxx.,
p. 466), it is particularly stated that there is no evidence of this
Bpecimen ever having been in Mr. Hoy's possession, nor can I
ascertain what has become of it.

i

'^«ea}i:^ -:s*t_w>fi«s*ij(r,«as.-»i.-4

D

a

a
Q

cq

J * -^iBKW'iwwwrwfTOV"

LITTLE STINT. 361

the 23rd of April, 1868. This bird was also killed
on Breydon, a male, gradually assuming its summer
plumage, the rufous edgings of the feathers appearing
over the head, back, and scapulars. This is the last to
my knowledge that has been observed in this county,
and it is noticeable that all have appeared on their
passage northward in spring.

Among the "British Birds" in the Norwich Museum
will be found two or three interesting specimens of this
sandpiper, procured by the late Mr. Wolley in Lapland,
during the height of the breeding season, and his
description of its eggs and breeding habits will be found
in the third edition of Hewitson's "Eggs of British
Birds."

TRINGA MINUTA, Leisler.

LITTLE STINT.

This elegant little sandpiper, though appearing only
in smaU flocks, is a regular autumnal visitant to our
coast, and, as shown by my notes for the last twenty
years, is most frequently met with in the months of
August, September, and October. In spring it is
occasionally seen on its northward passage in May,
and at times as late as the second and third week of
June in the rich colour of its nuptial dress. I have
a note of one killed at Yarmouth, on the 21st of May,
1853; and in Captain Longe's collection are two or three
specimens obtained on Breydon about the 18th of June ;
others have also been seen by him quite as late in the
season. A single specimen was shot at Wootton, near
Lynn, on the 19th of June, 1865 ; and a very beautiful
example in my own collection, in full summer plumage,
was shot at Salthouse, on the 18th of June, 1868,
from a flock of four or five which had frequented the
beach there for some days. With -the exception only
3 A

362 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

of Breydon mud-flats, the margins of the brackish
water, which at Salthouse divide the shingle from
the sea-banks and marshes, are the most favourite
resort of this diminutive species, and from whence at
different times I have received several. Others have
been procured also from the beach at Cromer, Sher-
ringham, and Hunstanton, as well as from the shores of
the Blakeney channel, where, accordmg to Mr. Dowell,
they are somewhat rare visitants. Messrs. Gurney and
Fisher have recorded in the " Zoologist " for 1848
(p. 2292), the occurrence, on the 13th of September, of
a flock of seven on Yarmouth beach, and the following
have come imder my notice during the last few years : —
1863. August 12th. Two in Mr. H. Upcher's collec-
tion from Sherringham beach. September 26th. One
sent me from Salthouse still retaining a portion of its
summer dress. Several others seen at the same time.

1865. August 5th. Three sent me from Salthouse
in nearly full summer plumage.

1866. October 19th. One killed on the beach at
Hunstanton.

1868. May 20th. A m.ale, in full summer plumage,
sent me from Yarmouth ; and on the 18th of June two
more from Salthouse where others had been seen.

September. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., received one
from Cromer.

1869. July 16th. A fine specimen killed at Yar-
mouth. Two others shot a week or two before were,
unfortunately, not preserved.

Mr. J. H. Gurney informs me that on one occasion
when shooting at Salthouse, a little stint having been
only slightly wounded in the wing, he carried it alive
to Cromer, and tinmed it loose in his room, where, to
his surprise, it exhibited so little uneasiness in its
new quarters that on the same day it ate flies out of
his hand without the least symptom of alarm.

temminck's stint. 363

TRINGA TEMMINCKI, Leisler.
TEMMINCK'S STINT.

Since the distinguishing characteristics of this minute
Tringa have been better understood, specimens have
been identified in Norfolk in very many instances. This
species was not included by Messrs. Sheppard and
Whitear in then- Catalogue in 1825, nor by Mr. Hunt in
his " List " pubHshed in 1829 ; but in Selby's " British
Ornithology " " a male and female, killed in Norfolk in
May^ 1830," are stated to be in his possession ; and in
the "Magazine of Natural History" for 1837 (new
series, vol. i., p. 117), Mr. J. D. Hoy has recorded two
specimens, birds of the year, as killed near Yarmouth,
in September, 1835, and an adult bird, on Breydon, in
the foUowrug May. Messrs. Paget (1834), speaking of
the little stint as " not uncommon about Breydon,'*
remark " probably the Tringa temmincJci occurs too ;"
and in 1846 it was described by Messrs. Gurney and
risher as appearing "occasionally" but "less regularly
and much less numerously." A specimen in the late
Mr. S. Miller's collection, was probably procured at
Yarmouth some years ago.^

As this stint is, I think, generally considered more
rare than it really is, I subjoin all the instances in
which, to my knowledge, it has occurred in Norfolk of
late years; whilst others have, no doubt, passed un-
noticed, or at least unrecorded, during that period.

1843. Mr. W. E. Fisher, then Hving at Yarmouth,
as stated by Morris in his " British Birds," knew of four
shot there in September and October of this year, and

* In Mr. Spalding's collection at Westleton, is a Temminck's
stint, shot by himself out of a flock of ten, ou Benacre Bi'oad,
SuSblk, about twenty years ago.
3 A 2

364 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

Lad in his possession two other Yarmouth specimens —
one killed in May and the other in Sej)tember.

1847. May 14th. One killed at Yarmouth, as noticed
by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher in the " Zoologist " (p.
1785).^-

1850. August 20th. One adult and one immature
specimen, in the ^^ Dennis collection," at Bury, were
killed at Yarmouth.

1851. October 2nd. One from Yarmouth.

1853. May 16th. Two in a state of half change
from winter to summer plumage. One of these is in Mr.
J. H. Gurney's and the other in my own collection. I
have also another Yarmouth specimen killed somewhere
about this date.

1861. May 23rd. One at Yarmouth, also purchased
by Mr. Gurney, which, from its late appearance, had
nearly completed its breeding plumage. Another was
shot about the same time on Breydon by Captain Longe,
who has it preserved in his collection at Yarmouth.

November 23rd. A third example in this year was
.also killed on Breydon, and is in the possession of the
Rev. C. J. Lucas, of Burgh.

1862. Captain Longe informs me that he saw three
or four specimens during May and June, killed in the
marshes around Breydon ; and one in his own possession
was shot on the 19th of August, on Breydon muds.
The Rev. C. J. Lucas has also one killed on Breydon, in
this year, on the 16th of May, far advanced in summer
plumage.

1866. t May. A specimen killed at Yarmouth during

* In the "Zoologist" for 1849 (p. 2623), Mr. F. W. Foster, of
tlie Wisbech. Museum, records a Temminck's stint as " shot on the
banks of the river, less than a mile below the town," which he
preserved for the museum. A pigmy cui'lew and little stint were
killed at the same time.

t Mr. Hele, of Aldeburgh, on the Suffolk coast, has recorded in

TEMMIJSrCK's STINT. 365

this month, is in Mr. J. Tomlinson's collection. Sep-
tember 12th, two sj)ecimens were shot near Lynn,
by Mr. G. Cresswell, as recorded by Dr. Lowe in the
"Zoologist" for that year (p. 457). Both were females,
and much injured by the shot, but one was preserved
for the Lynn Museum.

Amongst the "British Birds" in the Norwich
Museum will be found a nestling of this minute sand-
piper (No. 244c), with adult specimens* in full summer
plumage, collected by the late 'Mr. WoUey, from local-
ities north of the Bothnian gulf, together with the eggs,
till then hardly known. The following most graphic
account from Mr. Wolley's own pen, of the habits of
this species in its breeding haunts, is quoted from
Hewitson's third edition of the " Eggs of British Birds "
— " Grassy banks and pastures by the waterside are the
kind of places where it takes up its breeding quarters, and
it seems to delight to be near houses. Nothing can be
m.ore interesting or pretty than this little bird in the
early part of summer ; it is so tame that one could often
catch it in a net at the end of a stick. At one time it
is hovering with its wings raised over its back, or
floating about, and it reminds one rather of some insect
than any other bird ; at another time it may be standing
on the top of a stone or stake, or the gable end of a
cottage, and, whether hovering or standing on its perch,
it utters a constant trilling note, of which I can best
give an idea by saying that it brought to my recoUec-

the " Field " during the last three or four years, the following
occurrences of this species. In 1865, about the end of August, two
at Thorpe Mere. In 1866, in September, specimens of both Tem-
minck's and the little stint were killed near Aldeburgh. May 2nd,
1867, one at Thorpe Mere.

* ISTo. 244a, "male, Karesuando, June 20th, 1854. Wo. 244b
[sex not noted] "Alcola, July 21st, 1853." No. 244c [as above
mentioned] " from nest, Alcola, July 21st, 1853."

366 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

tion tlie grasshopper warbler, thougli the resemblance
is perhaps slight."

Mr. Harting has so accurately described in his
"Birds of Middlesex,"^ the chief points of difference
both in habits and plumage, between Temminck's and
the little stint, that I cannot do better than quote his
remarks, to assist young collectors in distinguishing
these two species. "Temminck's Stint may be re-
garded as a miniature common sandpiper, exhibiting
a more uniform colour throughout, and having light
coloured legs, while the little stint, like a miniature
dunlin, displays a more mottled and varied plumage,
and has black legs. Nor need the parallel, I think, be
confined to the plumage only, for as far as my experience
goes, Temminck's stint, like the common sandpiper,
affects the soft mud around inland pools and marshes,
while the little stint, like the dunlin, prefers the sand
and shingle of the sea-shore." This opinion is certainly
borne out by the character of the respective localities
most frequented by these two species on our Norfolk
coast, but the muds of Breydon, with its tidal waters,
form a common resort for these and all other kinds of
Tringce.

The American Little Stint, the Tringa ;pusilla of
Wilson, — included by Yarrell in the preface to the third
edition of his "British Birds," from an example shot
by Mr. W. H. Vingoe, on the 10th of October, 1853
(see "Zoologist," 1854, p. 4297), in Ma,razion marsh,
near Penzance, — has not hitherto been observed in
Norfolk.

* See also a valuable paper by the same author on "tbe dis-
tinguishing characters of some nearly allied species of British
birds," in the " Zoologist" for 1867 (p. 973.)

PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 367

TRINGA PECTORALIS, Bonaparte.
PECTORAL SANDPIPER.

The first British killed specimen of this rare Tringa,
as was the case also with the broad-billed sandpiper, was
procured on Breydon, and its occurrence is thus recorded
by the late Mr. J. D. Hoy in the " Magazine of Natural
History" for 1837 (new series, vol. i., p. 116):— "It
was killed on October 17th, 1830, on the borders of
Breydon Broad, an extensive sheet of water, near
Tarmouth, rather celebrated for the numerous rare
birds which have, at different times, been observed and
shot on its banks and waters. The person who killed
it remarked that it was solitary, and its note was new
to him, which induced him to shoot it. It proved to be
a female on dissection. It was preserved by the late
Mr. J. Harvey, of Yarmouth, as a curious variety of T.
variabilis, with some doubts as to whether it might not
be a new species. I detected the bird in Harvey's
collection, and felt convinced it was an undescribed
species of Tringa.''^ In corroboration of the above, it is
stated by Tarrell that Mr. Hoy having obtained posses-
sion of this bird,"^ sent it up to him, in London, for
inspection, where Audubon, then staying in England,
had an opportunity of examining it, and "he imme-
diately confirmed the previous notion that the bird was
an example of the Tringa pectoralis of America."

In the "Zoologist" for 1849 (p. 2392) Mr. J. H.

* Dr. Bree mentions this specimen in liis description of Mr.
Hoy's collection of Birds, at Stoke Nay land, in the "Field"
for 1867 (vol, XXX., p. 466): — "I regret to say it is not in the
collection. I understand, however, that Mr. Hoy's surviving
brother has some of the birds, and probably this may be among
them." Possibly the first Norfolk killed broad-billed sandpiper
may also be in the same hands.

368 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

Gurney recorded a second example as killed on the
Denes at Yarmoutli, in tlie last week of September,
1848 ; but in a subsequent note in the same journal
(p. 25G8), he adds, "I now much regret to say that I
fear that I was imposed upon with respect to this
specimen, and that it is in reality a foreign one."
Subsequent enquiry has confirmed this impression, but
the bird in question ifvill be found in the British series
(No. 246) at the Norwich Museum.

On the 30tli of September, 1853, however, a speci-
men, now in Mr. J. H. Gurney's possession, was obtained
near Yarmouth, and was thus recorded by him in the
"Zoologist" (p. 4124): — "I had the opportunity of
examining this sandpiper in the flesh ; it was a female,
and apparently a bird of the year ; it was not fat but in
very fair condition. The stomach contained some small
seeds and the remains of a few insects, but too mutilated
to be recognisable with clearness." Since that date,
two more authentic specimens have been also procured
in Norfolk. The first of these, in my own collection,
was killed at Caister, near Yarmouth, on the 16th of
September, 1865, and was brought to me in the flesh ;
unfortunately a shot had rendered the sex undistin-
guishable by dissection. The second, and last to my
knowledge observed on our coast, was netted by a man
named Hornigold, in Terrington marsh, near Lynn,
on the 9th of January, 1868. This bird, which was
preserved for the Lynn Museum by Mr. Wilson, of
that town, proved to be a female, and, judging from
the plumage, a young bird of the previous year.
Through the kindness of Dr. Lowe, I had the pleasure
of examming this bird soon after it was mounted, and
of comparing it with my own and Mr. Gurney's speci-
men.

Unfortunately Mr. Hoy's brief account of the bird
which he purchased from Harvey, of Yarmouth, affords

PECTOKAL SANDPIPER. 369

no means of judgiug whetlier it was in an immature or
aclnlt state, but I have lately had the opportunity of
comparino" my own and Mr. Gurney's^ examples with a
series of foreign skins in Mr. Gould's collection, from
which it is easy to trace the gradual changes of plumage
in this species from the less conspicuous markings of
the young bird in its first autumn to the more defined
and richer tints of the adult during the breeding
season. Mr. Gurney's bird, as suggested by him, is no
doubt in the plumage of its first autumn, and so nearlj'
agrees with the description given by Yarrell from a speci-
men sent him by Audubon, that I need only add that
its general dimensions are larger than in mine, even
though the plumage of the latter indicates a far more
advanced age. The most striking feature, however, in
the plumage of my own specimen consists in the mark-
ings on the breast crossing the tips of the feathers in
an arrow-head form, reminding one somewhat of
Bartram's sandpiper, while in Mr. Gurney's the breast
feathers are streaked with dark brown in the line of the
shaft of each feather. The rest of the plumage in my
own, no doubt a fully adult bird, indicates a rapid state
of change between summer and winter plumage, and,
from the appearance of the breast, where the arrow-
head markings are very irregularly distributed, one
might almost infer that these are peculiar to the nuptial
dress. The rufous margins to the feathers on the head
and back are in mine broader and richer in colour than
in Mr. Gurney's, which are light wood brown ; those
on the head are more dark brown than chestnut.

The followmg table gives the comparative measure-
ments of these two Norfolk killed examples as taken
from the stuffed specimens, both of which were set up

* It is, I believe, Mr. Gould's intention to figure both these
specimens in his " Birds of Great Britain."
3 B

370 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

from the flesh. Number one represents Mr. Gurney's
bird ; number two mj own : —

No. 1. No. 2.

Tip of bm to end of) 8 inches and 6-8tli3 ... 7 inches and 7-8ths

longest tail feather J
Wing, carpal joint to-\

end of longest pri- > 5 inches and l-8th ... 6 inches*

mary J

Bill 1 inch and l-16th ... 1 inch

Tibia, full length 1 inch and 2-8ths ... 1 inch and 2-8th3

Tarsus 1 inch and 1-lOth ... 1 inch •

Middle toe and claw ... 1 inch ... 1 inch and 1-1 6th

The Lynn bird, like Mr. Gurney's, a female, has the
markings on the breast following the shaft of each
feather, and is evidently immature, but has a single
new feather with rufous edges in the tail, marking the
commencement of a spring change, so early even as the
9th of January. On the back and shoulders the centre
of each feather is blackish brown, edged somewhat
broadly with grey, some few having a reddish tinge,
but none rufous. Greater-wing coverts slightly red at
the edges, and more markedly so the feathers on the
head and back of the neck. The measurements of this
bird, taken after it was mounted, agree with those of my
own rather than Mr. Gurney's, and are identical with
those of an immature foreign specimen, in the same state
of plumage (No. 246a), in the Norwich Museum. Indi-
viduals, therefore, of both sexes, no doubt, vary much
in size as is the case so remarkably with the dunlins
and some other wader s.f

* Proportionate length of quills the same in each specimen.

f As Mr. Newton informs me the dimensions of the two speci-
mens given in the above table " are considerably less than those
of six given by Cassin in Professor Baird's ' Birds of North
America' (p. 721); the largest of these measures 9.32 in. in entire
length, and 5.75 in. in that of the wing ; while the smallest, the
entire length of which is 8.64 in., or somewhat less than Mr.

DUNLIN. 371

TRINGA VARIABILIS, Meyer and Wolf.

DUNLIN".

With, the exception of a very short period, during
the height of the breeding season, the Dunlin, Purre,"^
or Stint (as it is commonly termed in Norfolk), is found
on our coast in more or less abundance throughout the
year. As early sometimes as the first week in July,
young and old together, in family groups, may be met
with on oar shores, in localities also where, later in
the season, they are but rarely seen; and these, after
roving awhile over the weed-covered rocks and shingle,
join the later migratory flocks in their more accustomed
haunts, such as the mud-fiats of Breydon, and the ouzy
margins of our tidal channels at Blakeney and Lynn.
Indeed, the entire coast line to the north and west,
from Cley harbour to the further shores of the Wash,
backed by a wide range of saltmarshes, affords both
at high and low water the most favourable conditions
for this abundant species. From Mr. Dowell's notes I
find that in 1848 many flocks had arrived about Blakeney

Gurney's bird, has a wing of 5.16 in. This species, the oldest
name of which seems to be Tringa maculata, Vieillot, is of frequent
occurrence in most parts of America, and is commonly known
in the United States as the ' Jack-snipe.' "

* This term, as used by Pennant and other early authors,
referred to this species in its winter garb, the name of dunlin
being applied to the same bird in its summer dress until these
seasonal changes of plumage became better understood. Again,
Sir Thomas Browne, speaking of the abundance of stints upon
" the shore and marshes about StiflFkey, Burnham, and other
parts," says there is " Another small bird, somewhat larger than a
stint, called a churr, and is commonly taken among them." Churr
is here, no doubt, used for purre, and the bird mentioned, was
probably a full-sized dunlin in one of its various stages of
plumage.

3 B 3

372 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

harbour, by the 29th of July, in full summer plumage,
which by the beginning of September had mostly com-
pleted their winter dress. In 1851, by the 20th of July,
they had returned in flocks of from five to fifty, and
again in 1853, on the 1st of July,'^ he observed more
than one hundred together on the shingle bank, the old
birds being in fall summer plumage. A large portion,
however, of our autumnal visitants shift their quarters
again later in the season, under certain conditions of
wind and temperature, and not unfrequently during
September and October scarcely more than one or two
small flocks will be seen, where so recently the mingling
footsteps of a feathered host might be traced on every
part of the muddy estuary.

Yet, neither in spring nor autumn can their numbers
be compared to the thousands which pour in upon us
occasionally in severe winters. At such times I have
seen them on Breydon in countless numbers, crowding
the water's edge at the first turn of the tide, and
never quitting the mud-flats till the returning waters
fairly washed them off their feet, from the highest ground
in the harbour. With a knowledge of this habit, certain
portions of the "muds" have been artificially raised
at various times, and on these not only the dunlins and
other waders, but many kinds of fowl frozen out from
the broads and rivers, collect in order to feed on the small

* Mr. Cordeaux in his " Notes on the Ornithology of Spnrn
Point" on the Yorkshire coast, publislied in the "Zoologist" for
1868 (p. 1317), describes the dunlin as numerous on the 2nd of
July, flying in flocks along the beach, and estimated one flock at
about three hundred birds. Thompson, in his " Birds of Ireland,"
states that he noted their arrival in Belfast Bay as early as the
30th of June, 1842, when about a dozen appeared. In 1838 and
1840 large flocks arrived by the 3rd and 5th of July, but in
some years they were not seen before the end of that month.
Flocks of from two thousand to five thousand have been seen in
mid-winter.

DUNLIN. 373

Crustacea, Mollusca and other marine animals, periodi-
cally exposed by the tide. Thus crowded together, the
birds present a fatal mark for the big swivel guns,
and an almost incredible number are sometimes killed at
a single discharge. Messrs. Gurney and Fisher, in the
concluding observations to their " Account of the Birds
found in Norfolk," state that upwards of eight hun-
dred dunlins were brought to a dealer in Yarmouth
on the 11th of December, 1844 ; and on the 16th of the
same month some two hundred more, besides large
numbers of other water-birds. I have also known, much
more recently, as many as two hundred dunhns obtained
in the day by one individual. Should the frost continue
severe for any length of time or the '^ flats," as soon as
exposed by the ebbing tide, be covered with snow,
these poor birds become exceedingly pressed for food,
and are then brought into our markets in a very pitiable
state. At high water they betake themselves to the ad-
joining marshes, following the course of the Yare, Bure,
and Waveney, whose mingled waters pass through
Breydon to the sea, and on the former stream are met
with as far up as Eeedham ; but everywhere fresh perse-
cution awaits them from a swarm of gunners posted on
the banks. One of the surest indications of an unusually
severe season, such as that of 1860, is the appearance
of men in our streets, with large bunches of dunlins,
knots, and grey plovers, suspended from sticks, the
former being invariably palmed off as snipes upon the
unwary purchaser. Though, of course, far inferior to the
snipe, dunhns when in condition, are very good eating,
out it is essential that the trail should be removed as
soon after they are killed as possible, since the gall
bladder in this species is largely developed and imparts
a bitter and extremely unpleasant flavour.^

* In tlie L'Estrange "Household Book" this species, under
the name of " stynt," is frequently included amongst the shore-bii-ds

374 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

The appearance of these birds on the wing when in
considerable numbers, like the marvellous rising of the
black-headed g-ulls in their breeding haunts, is a sight
never to be forgotten. I have witnessed it myself on
Breydon, when the whole surrounding country was
covered with a deep snow, and when the broad channel
of the main stream with its numerous tributaries, looked
black in contrast to its whitened borders. Presently a
bright gleam of sunshine would alternate with the snow
storms of a real winter's day, revealing a swarm of
birds upon the ^' flats " beyond, and when these, in hun-
dreds, rose upon the wing, and performed, as one bird,
their varied evolutions, the under and upper portions of
their plumage in turn presented to the eye, seemed like
a streak of silvery light, or a dark cloud passing over a
sunny landscape.'^

Mr. J. E. Harting has so accurately described the
habits of these birds when feeding on the Breydon
"flats," that I am glad to have the opportunity of quoting
here certain passages from his MS. notes. In Sep-
tember and October, 1863, he found small flocks of
dunlins in the harbour, feeding in company with golden
and ringed plovers in about equal numbers, with a few
curlews and gulls. As soon as the tide began to flow

purchased of the " fowler " and others ; occasionally as many as
three dozen and a half at one time. On one occasion we find the
following birds thus curiously priced : — " It. a curlewe v'^-' ijj teles
[teal] and ijj stynts iijd-. and iij plovs vj'^- "; and at another time the
fowler received one penny for a dozen. " Itm pd to bym for a
dosyn stynts, — — ij ob." [two halfpence.] In the Northumbe?-
la,nd "Accounts," styntes are ordered " to be hadde for my Lorde's
owne Mees and non other, so they be after vj a j^->" while snipe
are entered at iij a j^-. partridges at ij'^-j and woodcocks at j''- or
jd- ob. [three halfpence.]

* See Thompson's " Birds of Ireland," vol. ii., pp. 291-2 ; and
" The Wild Fowler," by Folkard, pp. 115 and 316.

DUNI.IN.

" the birds became restless, shifting their ground and
flying short distances to the larger islands of mud still
left uncovered by the water, and whenever they rose to
fly from one patch of mud to another they always called
to each other, and became silent again on re- com-
mencing to feed." As the "muds" disappeared beneath
the rising waters, the golden plovers were usually the
first to leave and wing their way to the marshes, followed
very shortly by the ringed plovers and dunlins, whilst
the last to quit their feeding grounds — with the excep-
tion of the various species of gulls — ^were the long-
legged curlews, which had thus a few minutes advantage
over their smaller companions. By means of a punt
in the main channel on a flowing tide he was enabled,
just before high water, to approach very close to these
birds, and could thus observe their actions without appa-
rently creating alarm ; for at such times, as he remarks,
"not only is their feeding ground gradually brought
within narrower limits every minute, but the birds
themselves are brought closer together, and are so busy
feeding that they do not notice so much the approach
of a punt." Then is the moment for a fatal shot, but
how much more satisfactory, with no hostile intentions,
to adopt Mr. Harting's plan, and sculling quietly up to
them, within a few yards, watch the movements of these
little sandpipers "perfectly unconstrained in their element
of ooze and sea- wrack, running on the mud in the
most graceful and varied attitudes." At high water he
invariably found dunlms in small parties scattered about
the " ronds " and marshes of the adjoining rivers. In
these localities, when fired at in small flocks, the birds
usually scattered themselves in all directions, and
dropped again on the same marsh in difierent places,
and with a little caution they could be flushed singly
like the jack-snipes, which were commonly met with
at the same time. Both at this time also, and again

376 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

during a second visit to Yarmouth, in October, 1867,
he found stragglers frequenting the sides of the drains,
and shot them like snipes as they rose out of the marsh
" dykes." Their food at that time of year " consisted of
small univalves belonging to the genera Rissoa and
Turbo, together with the remains of minute Coleoptera
and particles of grit and sand."

A novel mode of taking these and other w^aders, as
well as many other birds that frequent our shores at
night, has been adopted at Lynn, by Mr. F. J. Cresswell
and others, of late years, with much success. On the
flat shores of the Wash, at the mouth of the estuary,
long nets, some six or seven feet deep, are stretched
upright on poles, somewhere about high water mark, and
the birds in their nocturnal flight strike the nets, and
becoming entangled m the meshes, are taken alive in
the morning. Some, however, are occasionally drowned
should the tide rise higher than is expected, or the nets
be placed beyond a certain level on the ooze. From
Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., who, in December, 1862,
spent a night on board Mr. Cresswell's yacht, with the
view of visiting the nets in the early morning, I learn
that a dark night in mid-winter is reckoned the best
time for netting, and the north side of the Wash is
considered most favourable. The night should be very
dark and still, as the birds would avoid the nets if
visible at any distance, and, in stormy weather, the poles
are liable to be blown down, or even washed away. The
meshes are large so that various gulls and wild fowl
are caught by them, but the smaller Tringce, and even
larks, are taken in some quantities, being entangled
by their struggles. I have heard of as many as sixty
dunlins having been secured at one haul, and on one
occasion as many as one hundred and forty head, prin-
cipally sea gulls. Nocturnal migrants, as well as the
ordinary shore-birds of the neighbourhood, would seem

DUNLIN. 377

to meet witli a like fate, judging by the species which are
occasionally captured.* At Holme, near Hunstanton,
Mr. A, W. Partridge, of Thetford, has been also suc-
cessful with these long netsf (some seven feet in depth
and raised three feet from the ground), but has there
ranged them on the seaward side of the broad tidal
basin, which I have before described as a favourite
resort of the shore-birds at low water.

From the remarks of the lighthouse-keepers on our
coast, I believe this species may be included amongst
those migrants which, attracted by the light of the
lamps, are killed through contact with the plate-glass
windows. A very intelligent man at the Lowestoft"
High Light, who had formerly been stationed at Offord-
ness, assured me that **oxbirds" (a common name for
the dunlin in some counties) were picked up at times
in considerable numbers, at the foot of the Offord
Light. Stragglers are also met with at chance times
far inland, but their appearance in such locahties is, I
imagine, more the result of accident than choice, as a
single bird was picked up dead under the telegraph
wires on the 8th of February, 1860, after a severe gale

* The foUovping may be enumerated as having been taken
by this means, and many of the birds being uninjui'ed have been
afterwards kept in confinement in the Zoological Society's Gardens,
London, and in Mr. Gurney's aviaries, at Catton : — Owls, larks,
golden and grey plovers, curlews, redshanks, bar-tailed godwits,
woodcocks, knots, dunlins, oyster-catchers, storm petrels, shell-
ducks, wild-ducks, wigeons, and teal, together with black-headed,
kittiwake, common, herring, and great black-backed gulls. The
pectoral sandpiper, described as netted by Hornigold, near Lynn,
was, I understand, taken in this manner.

t A somewhat similar method is adopted at Morecambe Bay,
as Mr. J. H. Gurney informs me, but the nets, of a like descrip-
tion, are set on the sea-walls during dark nights. Large numbers
of oyster-catchers are taken, but, singularly enough, no dunlins,
although they are generally abundant on that coast.
3 c

378 BIRDS OF NORFOLK:.

on the previous niglit, and, with others, was probably
driven inland by the storm a distance of some twenty
miles. Another was shot in the meadows at Hellesdon,
near Norwich, in January, 1864.

That these birds pass over this city on their
nocturnal passage in autumn, as before stated of the
golden plovers and lapwings, I feel certain from the
notes I have been able to distinguish at times,
either of single birds calling to their companions,
or of small parties apparently mingled with other
species. The most marked instance, however, of this,
in my own experience, occurred on the 18th of August,
1869, when I was awakened about two o'clock in
the morning by the noise of birds, apparently pursuing
a direct course over the house-tops, from east to
west. On opening my window the sky looked bright
and starlight, not dark and stormy as is commonly the
case on such occasions, and the flight, at no great eleva-
tion, was still passing, although, as was soon apparent,
the rearguard was close at hand. I remember being
aware of some disturbing sound, before I became suffi-
ciently aroused to detect the cause, and can, therefore,
form no correct idea of the time occupied by this
clamorous host, in passing over my house and garden.
To the westward, as far as the ear could detect their
cries, myriads of small Tringce were filling the air with
their incessant whistlmgs, and the impression on my
own mind at the time was that the old birds were
calling to keep the young ones together, and that the
latter, answering in low murmuring notes, occasioned the
confused sound wliich in a remarkable manner marked
the passage of these migrants. Now and then I detected
the cry of the redshank, but always singly and apart
from the main body, accompanying but not joining
their forces; and, in like manner, apart from the rest,
I could distinguish stray dunlins by their notes, as if

DUNLIN. 379

passing to and fro along the ranks, perhaps acting as
aides-de-camp to this great feathered army.

I have no reason to suppose that the dunlin ever
remains to breed in Norfolk, even though Mr. Lubbock
in his " Fauna " (speaking of *' the stint or oxbird of
our beach "), says (p. 117), " some breed as far inland
as the warrens about Swaffham and Thetford." This
remark, however, as Mr. Lubbock has recently informed
me, was founded entirely upon notes supplied him by the
late Mr. J. D. Salmon, with reference to the habits of
the ringed-plover and the occasional appearance of the
dunhn in summer, about Thetford. Had Mr. Salmon
actually found the latter breeding in that neighbourhood
I am quite sure that so interesting a fact would have
been communicated with his other valuable contribu-
tions to the " Magazine of Natural History," but neither
in that journal nor yet in his MS. diary of Ornitho-
logical events,^ during his residence at Thetford, is
there a single entry leading to such a conclusion. Mr.
Alfred Newton, also, who, living close to Thetford
Warren for a good many years, had unusual facilities
for observing the species breeding there, assures me
that the dunlin never did so to his knowledge, or to
that of the warreners, but that a stray bird would occa-
sionally make its appearance there in the month of
May. Thus on the 24th of May, 1850, a male bird,
recognised as such by its flight and note, was seen by
his brother on Thetford Warren, but it could not be
found again though search was made on subsequent
days; and again on the 19th of May, 1851, a female
was shot on the warren. In 1853, during the flood
which devastated the south-west corner of the county,

* For tlie perusal of these carefully-kept notes, now in his
possession, I am iadebted to my friend Mr. H. Buckley, of
Edgbaston, Birmingham.

3 c 2

380 BIEDS OF NORFOLK.

the dunlin made its appearance among other waders,
and a pair were shot by Mr. Newcome, at Hockwold, on
the 6th of May in that year. In like manner on the
coast, either smgly or in small flocks, the dunlin is met
with throughout May and June. On the 2nd of June,

1862, I shot a soUtary male, at Salthouse, m full
summer plumage, which frequented the brackish waters
at the back of the beach, near the nesting place of the
ringed-plovers and lesser terns ; and at Hunstanton, in

1863, I observed small parties of dunlins on the sands
between the 16th and 30th of May, and one flock of
eight or nine on the 12th of June.

Most shore-gunners, as well as collectors, are aware
of the difference observable in certain examples of
this species, not only in size but in peculiarities of
plumage, apart altogether from seasonal changes. And
hence continental authors more especially have, of late
years, distinguished a larger and a smaller race of the
European dunlin, as has been already remarked of the
ringed-plover."^ In his "Ornithologie Europenne" (1849,
vol. ii., p. 230) Degland mentions under the name of
Tringa torquata, a stint which he considers distinct from
the common species. He describes it as a little smaller
with rather shorter bill and tarsi ; the head in winter
broadly streaked with blackish brown ; its breeding dress
brighter than that of the common stint, and the black
patch on the abdomen smaller. He also adds that it
breeds in HoUand, whereas the larger species goes
further north to breed. On this latter point, however,
Temminck, in the third or supplementary volume of his
Manuel (p. 400), quotes from Naumann to the effect
that the lesser bird is the most northerly in its summer
habitat, an opinion entirely opposed to that of Degland,t

* See ante, p- 95, note ; extract from. " Ibis," 1865, p. 465.

t In the second edition of Degland's work (1867), the editor, M.

DUNLIN. 381

and one whicli Mr. J. H. Gumey, to wliom I am
indebted for the above references, is mucli inclined to
question. The Tringa torquata of Degland, it should be
observed, answers to the T. schinzi of Brehm (1824), the
T. cinclus minor of Schlegel (1840), but is perfectly dis-
tinct from T. honapartii of Schlegel, the T. schinzi of
Bonaparte (1828), which is figured by Tarrell, and is an
American species having a distinguishing patch of white
on the upper tail coverts, but not yet procured in
this county, though at least four examples have been
killed in England. Of the true Tringa schinzi, then,
as thus distinguished, Mr. Alfred Newton possesses
a specimen killed at Yarmouth, which renders it
specially worthy of notice in the present work, and after
comparing this bird with one or two small dunlins in my
own collection from Yarmouth,"^ and with notes of
examples sent me from time to time for identification
from the same locality, there seems no doubt that this
smaller race, although not common as compared with
the large dunlin (the true T. alpina of Linnaeus), is
nevertheless a regular visitant to our Norfolk coast. I
have now no question, also, that four dunlins seen by
myself, at Cromer, on the 23rd of August, 1867, belonged
to this small race, as I mistook them at a distance for
little stints. When they approached nearer, however,
to the spot where I was lying on the shingle, and,
apparently indifferent to my presence, fed by the water's

Gerbe, adds, the north of Scotland, the shores of the Baltic and the
North Sea, and Siberia to the breeding places of this race. Mr. A.
Newton also tells me that he has found the larger race breeding in
the extreme north of Norway.

* One of these killed on the 28th of April, 1858, in nearly full
summer plumage, agrees exactly with Degland's description of the
lesser dunlin in its nuptial dress. The abdominal patch is small,
and the chesnut tints on the upper portions of the plumage, so
vivid that the bird was sent me as a variety.

382 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

edge within tliree yards of my feet, I at once recognised
the species though struck by their diminutive forms.

To Mr. Cordeaux I am indebted for specimens from
the Lincolnshire coast of what he terms " drain "
dunlins, owing to the localities in which he generally
finds them; but although the two I have seen do not
appear referable to the smaller race, yet the habits
and actions of the " drain " dunlins, as observed by
Mr, Cordeaux during several seasons, are of so dis-
tinctive a character as to deserve special notice. Of
these birds he writes — "I occasionally meet with a
pair or two about our larger marsh drains, feeding
on the narrow strips of ' warp ' left between the
water and the grass. I have never recognised them
on the ^ flats,' the resort of the common race, nor
do the larger dunlins ever feed in our fresh water
drains.'^ When flushed in the drains, in the imme-
diate vicinity of the Humber embankment, they usually
fly up the drain and not on to the * flats,' and if
towards the ^flats' will '-wing round' and pitch again
in the drain. They are extremely tame and fearless,
and in this respect differ singularly from the shy, wild,
Humber dunlins, which, from constant persecution by
the bank shooters, become unapproachable save by
stratagem. I have some times sat on the drain bank
watching these fearless little birds probing the mud
within a few yards of my feet. They do not pack
together in flocks. I have never observed more than
three at the same time. They are almost always seen
in pairs, and exhibit the strongest attachment for each
other. I shot one of a pair on our main drain during
the winter months ; the distress of the survivor was
most pitiful, flying backwards and forwards, and all the

* The dunlins before mentioned as shot by Mr. Harting out of
the marsh " dykes," near Breydon, were of the ordinary type.

DUNLIN. 383

time giving utterance to a plaintive cry, a cry whicli I
have often thought (but I may be mistaken) differs from
that used by the shore dunlins. Two birds shot on
the 16th of May, showed scarcely any sign of the sum-
mer dress. All our shore dunlins, and I have inspected
scores through my glass, were then in full summer
plumage. Unlike the shore dunlins, which are per-
petually on the move, and ever on the alert, these may
be seen standing for long periods on one leg close to
the water's edge, the other leg dangling loose from
the body, and the head thrown back between the
shoulders. I believe a pair or two may be found in this
district throughout the summer." Of a specimen
picked up dead on the 4th of June, he writes, "this
bird is in fall summer plumage or nearly so, but the
black pectoral patch is much broken up with white. It
was too far gone for preservation." Mr. Cordeaux has
also examined, under the microscope the respective
parasites of the " drain " and " shore " dunlins, which
certainly, as shown by a coloured drawing sent to me,
are widely different.

As with the godwits, sanderlings, and other waders,
examples of this species differ much in the date of their
assumption or loss of the breeding plumage, birds killed
on the same day, either in spring or autumn, often
exhibiting every stage of transition from winter to
summer plumage or vice versa. As a rule the sex of
the common dunlins, may be determined by the bill, that
of the female being almost invariably the longest, my
own experience in this respect, from the dissection of a
good number of specimens agreeing entirely with Mr.
Jefferies' statement in the "Zoologist" for 1867 (p. 813) ;
but, as I have already shown to be the case with the bar-
tailed godwits, exceptions may be met with which would
altogether mislead the collector who relied on external
evidences only. In four females of the larger race now

384 BIRDS OF NOKFOLK.

before me tlie length of bill varies from one inch and
a quarter to rather more than one inch and three-
eighths ; and in four males from one inch full to
nearly one inch and a quarter. The degree of curva-
ture, as well as the depth of the mandibles at the base,
also varies considerably.

Varieties of this bird, although such an abundant
species, are but rarely met with. Mr. F. Frere, of
Yarmouth, possesses a very curious specimen killed by
himself on Breydon in the spring of the year, which,
from its size and the form of the bill, was at first sup-
posed to be a curlew sandpiper. Mr. Harting, however,
having examined the bird, agrees with me that it is
a white* dunlin, having only the scapulars and a few
other feathers rust colour.

TRINGA MARITIMA, Briinnicli.

PUEPLE SANDPIPER.

This species occurs pretty regularly in autumn and
winter, although the number seen or procured on our
coast varies much in different seasons. It is also occa-
sionally met with in spring, but that this is exceptional
may be inferred from my own notes since 1850, con-
taining but one entry to that effect : a bird killed at
Yarmouth, on the 14th of May, 1853, commencing the
change to summer plumage. Two were also observed by
Mr. Dowell, at Morston, on the 30th of July, 1851.

* In the " Field" of September 16tli, 1865, Mr. F. Hele, of Alde-
burgh, Suffolk, records a perfectly white dunlin, as recently killed at
Thorpe in that neighbourhood. Of this bird Mr. Harting remarks
in his " Birds of Middlesex " (p. 201, note), " The quill feathers
were much worn, and the bird had the appearance of great age."

PUEPLE SANDPIPER. 385

Strangely enough tMs species is not included by Messrs.
Paget in tlieir list of Yarmouth birds, but Mr. W. R.
Fisher, in a note "on the occurrence of rare birds at
Great Yarmouth," published in the "Zoologist" for
1843 {p. 182), alluding to its variable numbers, says — ■
*'In 1841, I saw but one specimen, which occurred
October 23rd. In 1842, from October 22ud to De-
cember 10th, inclusive, it was comparatively common."
I have known the young of the year killed at Sher-
ringham as early as the second or third week in
August, but they are more generally met with during
the three following months. On the 12th of January,
1861, two or three were shot on Sherringham beach,
in company with knots, godwits, &c., during severe
weather ; and in 1864, 1866, and 1867, one or more
specimens were obtained in each year at Blakeney,
Hunstanton, Yarmouth, and Lynn, in December and
January, during frost and snow. A female shot on
the 31st of December, 1866, on Breydon water, as
recorded by Mr. T. E. Gunn, in the "Naturalist"
for 1867 (p. 177) had the ovary " f uU of minute
eggs," and the contents of the stomach consisted
of " young shrimps, small aquatic snails, and a few
small stones." An adult female in winter plumage was
kiUed at Cley, on the 30th of October, 1869, by Mr. E.
Upcher, of Kirby Cane. Mr. Hmit includes this species
in his " List " as occurring on Cromer beach, and states
that " the specimen in the Norwich Museum, preserved
by the Rev. W. Whitear, was killed at Yarmouth."
Mr. Dowell has known several killed in different seasons
at Blakeney, Morston, and Salthouse, between Sep-
tember and January, but for the most part occurring
singly. In 1847, however, on the 17th of November,
he killed six at Salthouse and saw five more, the wind
at the time blowing a gale from the north and north-
3 D

386 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

west. On the 25tli of September, 1863, he also saw
several at Hunstanton.^

This interesting' species, which frequents almost ex-
clusively the weed-covered rocks on the sea shore or
the margins of tidal waters in close vicinity to the coast,
has, from recent observations, been found to exhibit
peculiar and distinctive actions in its search after food,
for which its long prehensile feet and short but stoutly
formed tarsi would seem to be specially adapted. Mr.
Gatcombe, of Plymouth,t as quoted by Mr. Gould in his
" Birds of Great Britain," thus describes the habits of
this species when found on the rocks in rough weather :
*' On seeing a large wave approach it crouches and holds
on the rock, allowing the spray to dash completely over
it, and on the wave receding, rises and displays the
greatest activity in picking up its food until another
wave compels it to crouch again." As stated also by
Mr. J. H. Gurney in the " Zoologist" for 1865 (p. 9468),
a somewhat similar proceeding on the part of a pair of
these sandpipers, killed in December, 1864, at Lancing
"Water, a long broadish pool lying between Worthing
and Shoreham, was remarked by Mr. Wells, a bird-
stuffer, at Worthing. He was struck by their habit " of
dipping suddenly under water with a plunge, so much
resembling that of the water rat, that when Mr. Wells
first saw one of these birds perform this action, he
actually mistook it for a water rat, and it was not until

* Mr. Hele, in his " Notes from Aldeburgh " on the Suffolk
coast, in the "Field," of November 17th, 1866, remarks — "On
November 1st I met with and killed two very good specimens of
the pui'ple sandpiper along shore between Aldeburgh and Thorpe.
These are rare birds in this locality. The food consisted of small
shell fish and small quantities of the organic remains of the mud-
carrs."

t See also a note on this species by Mr. Gatcombe in the
" Field" of November 25th, 1865.

LAND-EAIL. 387

after it liad emerged that he discovered that the subject
of his observation was a bird and not a quadruped."

According to Mr. Gould the rich purple colouring of
this sandpiper, from which it derives its English appel-
lation, is peculiar to the winter season, and our local
specimens, therefore, according to age and date of
arrival, have all more or less acquired this familiar
garb, but in its summer quarters in the Foero Islands,
Iceland, Greenland, Norway, and Spitzbergen, it is
scarcely recognisable as the same species, when '^ from
the crown of the head to the lower part of the scapu-
laries, all the feathers are edged with chesnut and
white, while the purple winter colouring of their centres
has given place to brownish black."

Mr. Harting has kindly communicated the following
description of the colouring of the soft parts in this
species, as observed by him in a freshly killed example,
shot on Breydon, October 30th, 1867 : — " Iris, very dark
brown ; bill, brown anteriorly, yellow at the base ; legs
and toes, bright yellow," a very marked feature. The
contents of the stomach were small univalves.

CRBX PPvATENSIS, Bechstein.

LAND-EAIL.

As a bird of passage the Land-Rail or Corn-Crake
visits us regularly in spring, and many pairs, scattered
over the county, remain to breed in the corn-fields or
amidst the rank herbage of low meadows, as well as on
the "ronds," and marshes bordering upon our rivers and
broads.''^ Towards the end of April, or beginning of May,

* They do not seem to breed in the " Breck " District, though
they occur there in autiunn.
3d 3

388 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

its presence is indicated by the- monotonous creaking
note from which its name is derived, and by which alone
an estimate can be formed of the abundance or scarcity
of the species during the summer months. "Heard,
not seen," is the motto of its race, and as both corn-
and grass-lands usually afford sufficient shelter"^ on
its first arrival, examples are but rarely procured at
that season; although, as stated by Yarrell and other
authors, even this wary bird may be drawn from its
coverts by simply passing a piece of wood along the
teeth of a comb, in imitation of its call note. This cry
is said to be uttered only by the male bird, and Selby
remarks that when paired and incubation has commenced
it ceases altogether; but this is quite contrary to my
own experience, having heard it on summer evenings,
both in June and July, and Thompson gives instances
of its having been heard in Ireland throughout July
and even occasionally in August. Mr. Lubbock, in 1845,
described the corn-crake in his " Fauna of Norfolk," as
having "much decreased in numbers," attributable, I
imagine, to the same causes which have rendered the
quailf far less numerous than formerly. The greater
abundance of land-rails in Ireland than in Great Britain
is attributed by Thompson " to the more humid climate
and the general prevalence of meadow land ;" conditions
which in this county, at least, have been extensively
changed through drainage and cultivation; and at the
present time the localities most frequented by it are those
where cultivation borders upon a low lying district, with

* According to Thompson (" Birds of Ireland," vol. ii., p. 312),
tlie arrival of the corn-crake in the north of Ireland, has no con-
nection with the early or late state of the meadows, having re-
marked the bird " when they hardly concealed its body" ; and at
other times not until " two or three weeks after they were ready
for its reception."

t See ante, vol. i., p. 431, note.

LAND-RAIL. 389

a river or smaller stream flowing througli a range of
rich meadows or, in the " Broad " district, those drier
marshes which divide the arable land from the actual
swamp. This species, even if more abundant in some
seasons than in others, is never, I believe, so plentiful here
as in more northern counties ;^ but wherever their cries
have been heard repeatedly during the summer months,
some few are almost invariably killed in autumn. As
before stated, these birds frequent the swampy margins
of rivers and broads, and in such localities on the
banks of the Yare, near Coldham Hall, T have heard
several, soon after day break, in June and July, appar-
ently calling to one another from either side oi the
stream, but, as Mr. Johns remarks in his " British Birds
in their Haunts," "it is not easy to decide on the
position and distance of the bird while uttering
its note ; for the corn-crake is a ventriloquist of
no mean proficiency." Of their breeding habits Mr.
Gould writes in his " Birds of Great Britain :" —
"By the time the grass is ready for the scythe, the
mead bespangled with the butter cup, and the charlock
well in flower, the hatching time has arrived, and the
coal black young are following their parents stealthily
through the grass. These active little creatures must
grow with unusual rapidity, for the barley is scarcely
ripe before they can fly, and the 1st of September is
usually too late for sportsmen to benefit by more than
a remnant of the thousands that must be bred in
our islands." It by no means follows, however, that
because an unusual number are found by the sports-
men at the commencement of the shooting-season that

* Selby writes, "upon the banks of the Trent below Newark,
the meadows are annually visited by great numbers of corn crakes,
and I have, in the course of an hour, killed eight or ten in a single
field."

390 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

therefore an iiniisual quantity have been hatclied off
in this county. Those which still remain with us at
the close of the harvest, finding no shelter on our bare
stubbles, frequent for the most part fields of clover seed
or second crop clover, a preference which proves fatal
to them in September when, unable to run, they are
compelled to rise before the dogs and afford an easy
shot. An abundance, therefore, of such covert in any
one season, as was particularly the case in 1869, is sure
to result in many rails being killed, though the birds
may not really, as is commonly thought, have been
more numerous than usual. It is probable, however,
that migrants from more northern localities may visit
us occasionally on their passage southward."^ From my
own notes on this species, of late years, I find that in
1854 an unusual number were received by our bird
stuffers during the month of September, and the same
in 1857. In the latter year I heard one calling early
in May, within a mile of this city, at Eaton ; and in
September one or two were shot on a farm in that
parish. During the same month three very fine birds
were shot at Northrepps, near Cromer ; at Surlingham
Mr. Pratt killed three in one day, all very heavy birds ;
and on the opposite side of the river Mr. Tuck shot four
in one day, and five out of six a few days after, one of
which weighed nearly nine ounces, whilst the others
averaged eight ounces each.f

* The Eev. R. Holdsworth informed Mr. Tarrell that lie had
" been at the killing of thirteen couples in one day, in Devonshire,
in the month of September;" and the same author states that
two sportsmen, during the third week in September, near Battle,
" only a few miles from the coast, in Sussex, killed fifteen couples
of land rails in one day, and seven couples the next day," but
this is termed by Mr. Knox, in his " Birds of Sussex," " an unusual
occurrence."

t Yarrell gives the weight of the land-rail as "about six
ounces," but states that he had seen one and heard of another.

LAND-KAIL. 391

The present autumn (1869), as above stated, has
been exceptional in tlie number of land-rails killed in
various parts of the county. Between the 1st and 7th of
September Mr. Gerard Barton, of Fundenhall, shot four
in that neighbourhood, where he had not previously
met with any during several years. Two wei^ killed
with a right and left shot at Haj^ton, by Mr. T. H.
Edwards, and some seven or eight specimens were
brought in to our birdstuffers. The reputation, how-
ever, of this bird as a delicacy for the table renders the
number thus preserved a poor criterion as to the amount
actually killed.

I have, on several occasions, been shown the eggs
of the land-rail taken in Norfolk, but the nests are rarely
found unless mown out ; and on the 9th of June, 1864,
I saw eight Httle ones in their long black down, and
two eggs which had been taken in a grass field on the
Kimberley estate, near Wymondham. One of the old
birds was also killed accidentally by the scythe, as not
unfrequently happens. In 1862 a single bird was killed
near Norwich, on the 12th of October; and in 1864
three were killed in one day as late as the 25th, but
these are exceptional cases, as also a bird of the year,
shot on the 30th of November, 1855 ; and one recorded
by Yarrell, as killed near Yarmouth, in January,* 1836.
It seems marvellous that a bird so reluctant to take
wing, and when flushed pursuing so slow and lagging

which, weighed eight ounces and a half. Pennant remarks, " on
their arrival they are very lean, weighing only six ounces, but
before they leave this island grow so fat as to weigh above eight
ounces.

* In the "Field" of June 3rd, 1865, Dr. Biee gives an inter-
esting accoiint of three land-rails which he kept in confinement,
one of which lived throughout the winter when turned loose in a
walled-in garden, showing that this species when properly fed is
not affected by our frosts and snow, but will thrive if allowed a
certain amount of freedom.

392 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

a course, apparently glad to pitch again into the nearest
shelter, should be capable of a sustained passage over
sea and land ; but Mr. Gould (" Birds of Great Britain")
states that on his outward passage to America a land-
rail visited the ship when more than two hundred miles
from the Irish coast, and, after flying two or three times
round the vessel, settled on the rigging.* He also
quotes from a correspondent in the " Field " of No-
vember 10th, 1860, to the effect that in October, 1857,
when ^Hravelling up the Mediterranean, and between
Gibraltar and Malta, land rails frequently came on
board, flying south, particularly near the Algerian and
Tunisian coasts." They are also known at times to
strike the telegraph wires on their nocturnal flight.f

* This species has occurred once in Greenland according to
Professor Eeinhardt (" Ibis," 1861, p. 12), once in Bermuda ac-
cording to Colonel Drummond-Hay and Captain Wedderburn
(" Contrib. Orn." 1849, p. 86 and 1850. p. 14), and several times
in the Eastern States of North America according to Mr. Cassin
(Baird's " Birds of North America," p. 751). On the other hand
the Carolina crake has also been recorded ("P. Z. S.," 1865,
p. 196) as having occurred in England. This bird is the repre-
sentative in America of our spotted crake, for which it might be
easily mistaken by a careless observer, especially if immature.
The adult can easily be recognised by its black face. The specimen
above alluded to is included by Mr. Clarke Kennedy in his recent
work on " The Birds of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire," having
been shot by Mr. H. S. Eyre, of Newington, near Sittingbourne
(" Zoologist," 1865, p. 9540), on the banks of the Kennet, near
Newbury, in October, 1864.

t In the " Field" of May 16th, 1868, Mr. W. A. Wooler, of Sad-
berge Hall, states that at Bitchburn Station, on the Stockton
and Darlington Railway, the station master, Mr. Jaques, " has for
the nine years he has been at thit station, picked up nine corn
crakes, which have been killed by flying against one of the seven
telegraphic wires, and the spot where they have fallen has not
varied above a yard. He has obtained one every year except in
1866, but in 1867 two were picked up. The invariable cause of
death is by a dislocation of the neck."

SPOTTED CRAKE. 393

The sexes are nearly alike in colour, but the female,
according to Gould, "is somewhat smaller than the
male, has the grey on the sides of the head less pure,
and the usual colour of the wings mixed with darker
brown."

CREX PORZANA (Linnaeus.)
SPOTTED CEAKE.

The Spotted, like the corn-crake, visits us regularly
in spring, and though chiefly confined to the " Broad "
and " Fen " Districts, is by no means uncommon
between the months of March and October. Con-
sidering the almost impenetrable swamps these crakes
frequent in summer, the fact of their nests being but
seldom found is, of course, no proof of their scarcity,
and in like manner, owing to the extreme difficulty with
which they are flushed, even on the mown marshes in
autumn, the few examples killed yearly by the snipe-
shooter at that season are, I consider, an evidence of
many passing wholly unnoticed.

Mr. Lubbock speaks of the spring arrival* of this
species as occurring with " great regularity between the
12th and 20th of March," but of late years I have no
record of their appearance earlier than the 21st of that
month, and a female killed on the 23rd of March, 1866,
at Ludham, was then forward in egg. During the first
week in May, as recorded by Mr. W. R. Pisher, in the
"Zoologist" for 1843 (p. 248), the eggs of the spotted
crakef have been taken in the neighbourhood of Yar-

* This species has occurred in Greenland according to Professor
Eeinhardt " Ibis," 1861, p. 12.)

t The late Mr. 0. S. Girdlestone, of Yarmouth, an authority in
such matters, in a letter to Mr. Selby, in 1824 (for a copy of which
I am indebted to Mr. A. Newton), on the provincial names of wild
3 E

394 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

mouth, and I have had fresh eggs from Hickling on the
26th of that month, and have seen the young, in their
black down, taken on Rockland Broad, in the last week
of July. With reference also to its breeding in Norfolk,
Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear remark, " We have seen
a considerable number of its eggs at Yarmouth, which,
as well as its young, were found in the neighboui'hood
of that place, and are also in possession of an egg taken
from a female of this species, which was killed in the
marshes below Norwich." It seems probable, however,
that they were formerly more abundant in this county
than they are now, as Mr. Rising informs me he has
killed seven or eight in a day at Horsey, where they
are comparatively scarce at the present time.* A few
years back a nest of this crake was found by Mr. A.
Hamond, jun., on the margin of a reed-bed on Walton
Common, near Westacre ; and the small chain of fens
on the river Thet, in the south-western part of the
county, is also frequented by this species.

On two or three occasions I have shot this crake
when looking for snipe at Surlingham, where both young
and old, before their departure in October, frequent the
rough marshes surrounding the reed-beds ; but in these
localities even a dog well accustomed to this sport
will some times be baffled altogether by the quickness
with which the bird threads its way amongst the
tangled grasses, or slips round the little tussocks. When
too closely pressed, also, and compelled to take wing, it
not unfrequently flies so low, in a line with the dog, that

fowl and otlier birds in ITorfolk, remarks, "The common water-
rails are here called rails, but the spotted rails are called quails."
In the Cambridgesbire and Huntingdonshire Fens, as Mr. Newton
informs me, spotted rails used to be known as " dotterel."

* Mr. A. Newton tells me that the last nest he has heard of,
near Whittlesey Mere, where the species used to abound formerly,
was in 1849.

SPOTTED CEAKE. 395

it pitclies again before a safe shot can be had, and then
most probably it drops amongst the reeds and is seen no
more. On the 4tli of September, 1861, four were shot
at Stalbam on the same day, but I find from my notes
for the last twenty years, that the large majority of the
specimens brought to our bird-stuffers for preservation
have been kiQed between the 2nd and 29th of October.
On the 22nd of October, 1856, one old bird and three
young of the year were shot at Rockland. About that
time, I believe, the greater number take their departure
for the south, but stragglers are occasionally met with
throughout November, of which I have records in
different seasons, on the 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 30th. I
have also been assured by the marshmen that this
crake may be found at times in mid-winter, but one
shown me in the flesh, on the 2nd of December, 1868,
is the latest I have ever known. As the birds observed
thus late in the year are almost invariably in immature
plumage, they are most probably the result of a late
hatch, and therefore unable to join the earlier migrants.

In the " Zoologist " for 1847 (p. 1693), Mr. Alfred
Newton records the fact of a bird of tliis species having
been picked up dead at Thetford, by the side of the
Norfolk Railway, killed by flying against the telegraph
wires. *' One wing was broken, and the head bared of
a considerable quantity of feathers." This occurred, as
he has since informed me, on the 26th of October,
1846, and is no doubt the same mentioned in Morris's
"British Birds" (vol. v., p. 12), although the date is
wrongly quoted and the authority omitted.

There is little if any distinction in the plumage of the
sexes, but the young before their departure in autumn,
as described by Selby, have " the upper parts of a deeper
oU green, and the white more dispersed in the form of
small spots." Besides other minor difierences, also, the
bill wants the red colour at the base which marks the
adult bird.
3 E 2

396 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

CREX PUSILLA (Gmelin)
LITTLE CEAKE.

The first example of the Little or Olivaceous crake
known to have been procured in this county (only one
other having been previously noticed as killed in Eng-
land),'^ is stated in the Appendix to the supplementary
volume of Montagu's ^'Ornithological Dictionary," to
have been discovered by Mr. Eoljambe " in a poulterer's
shop,t early in the month of May, 1812, together with
some other valuable birds, which had recently been
received from the fens of Norfolk." The same authority,
also, remarks, " it is probable that the Foljambean gal-
linule may hereafter be found to breed in the fens of the
eastern parts of Great Britain."

In the late Mr. Lombe's MS. notes, supplied me
by his daughter, Mrs. E. P. Clarke, of Wymondham, I
find the record of "a httle gallinule" shot at Buckenham
Ferry, in August, 1827 ; of another, immature, at
Neatishead, m March, 1828 ; and of a third in 1830, on

* Under the name of little gallinule (GalUnula minuta) Mon-
tagu, in tlie Supplement to his " Ornithological Dictionary," figures
and describes a small crake shot near Ashburton, in Devonshire, in
the year 1809, as new to the British list, but as the first Norfolk bird,
as above stated, was subsequently described by the same author [see
Appendix to the Supplement] as a new species, under the name of
Olivaceous gallinule (GalUnula foljamhii) , he was evidently, at that
time under the impression that they were distinct. The Devon-
shire specimen forming part of Colonel Montagu's collection, is still
preserved amongst the "British Birds," at the British Museum.
This species, however, seems to have been first recognised and
described by Pallas, in the Appendix to the third volume of his
Travels, published in 1776, under the title of Ballus minutus, being
the same specific name as was subsequently applied to it by
Montagu when he, nearly forty years afterwards, discovered it
in England, and redescribed it as new.

t In London according to Yarrell, but the locality is omitted
by Montagu.

LITTLE CEAKE. 897

Oulton Broad, near Lowestoft, in the adjoining county.
One, if not more, of tliese local specimens, is most
probably in Mr. Lombe's fine collection,^ although,
owing to the absence of any memoranda to that effect,
this cannot now be ascertained with certainty.

Mr. Hunt in his " List " of Norfolk Birds, published
in Stacy's history of the county, in 1829, has also the
following entries with reference to our smallest species
of rails : —

" Rallus minuta, Little gallinule. Captain Custance,
of Catton, has a specimen of this recently-discovered
species [referring probably to Montagu] in his posses-
sion, shot by Mr. Girhng in the neighbourhood of
Scottow."

"Ballus Foljambii, Olivaceous gaUinule. This species,
originally described by Montagu, has been recently
killed at Bradestone."

Unfortunately the more ambitious work by the same
author on "British Ornithology," of which portions were
published in 1815 and 1822, was never completed, but
amongst the plates, to which the letterpress is wanting,
I find coloured representations of Rallus minutus and
Rallus foljamhii, which, in all probability, were drawn
from the two last-mentioned Norfolk specimens. The
first of these unquestionably represents an immature
little crake, but the latter, from the distribution of
the white spots over the back and wings, is far more
characteristic of Baillon's crake in its adult plumage.

Again in the "Magazine of Natural History" for

* A specimen killed on the banks of the Thames, near Chelsea,
in 1812, was purchased at the sale of Mr. Plasted's birds, by the
late Mr. Leadbeater, and was believed by Yarrell to have passed
subsequently into the possession of Mr. Lombe. This, I have no
doubt, is correct, as many of the rarest birds in Mr. Lombe's
collection were supplied by Leadbeater ; by whom also the entire
series were originally mounted and arranged.

398 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

1834 (p. 53) tlie late Mr. Hoy, in a notice of " some rare
species of birds observed or killed in tlie county of
Suffolk and adjoining borders of Essex, during the
winter months of 1832 and 1833," briefly records the
fact of "a, little gallinule, Gallinula Tninuta/' having
been shot near Yarmouth. Of this bird, however, and
of no less than three others procured in the same year,
I find the following important particulars in the MS.
notes sent me by Mr. Joseph Clarke, of Safiron Walden.
" Crex pusilla, little gallinule. Two shot by Mr.
Richers, near Yarmouth, March, 1833, in the possession
of Mr. Hoy, of Stoke Nayland.* One was stuffed by
Harvey, of Yarmouth, and sold for fifty shillings.
Captain Glasspoole killed two on Horsey Broad, in

1833."t

From this last date until the year 1847, I can
find no further notice of this species as occurring in
Norfolk, but on the 30th of March in that year an
adult male in very beautiful plumage was killed "on
the 'ronds' or wet marshes adjoining the large sheet of
water at Heigham Sounds," as recorded in the ^' Zoolo-
gist" (p. 1777) by Mr. W. F. W. Bird, of London, the
owner of the specimen. The same is also briefly noticed
in that journal by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher (p. 1702).
The following are the only examples I have been
able to authenticate within the last twelve years. A
male, in the possession of Mr. W. H. Scott, of Aylsham,
was shot by Mr. J. Dickens, at Dilham Fen, on
the 26th of April, 1852. This bird, which Mr. Scott
very kindly sent me for examination, was just com-

* In Dr. Bree's description of the late Mr. Hoy's collection, at
Stoke Nayland (" Field," 1867, vol. xxs.), there is no mention of
specimens either of the little or of Baillon's crake.

t A specimen of this crake, included in Mr. Stephen Miller's
sale Catalogue in 1853, was, I have little doubt, one of those already
mentioned.

LITTLE CRAKE. 399

mencing the change from immature to adult plumage,
the blue-grey tints appearing on the sides of the head.
On the 8th of May, 1855, a somewhat similar specimen,
sex not noted, was shot at Catfield, and, like the last, in
the centre of the "Broad" District. Mr. J. E. Harting
also informs me that on the 25th of October, 1867, he
flushed a little crake on a marsh adjoining the river Bure,
about five miles from Yarmouth, but having just dis-
charged both barrels at a snipe, was unable to secure it.
The bird rose so close to him that he could mark the
absence of white on the upper parts of the plumage,
and from this and its small size felt pretty sure as to
the species. It dropped amongst some thick reeds, and
eluded all attempts to make it rise again.

With the exception only of the Bradestone bird re-
corded by Hunt, which, as before stated, was possibly
a Bailion's crake, I see no reason, from the authorities
I have quoted, to doubt the authenticity of any of the
above instances. With no less than thirteen occur-
rences then, in one county, of a species usually con-
sidered so rare, the little crake can scarcely be regarded
as a merely accidental vistant. If the habits also of the
larger, and certainly more abundant species of rails, are
difficult of observation, how much more so those of the
little and Bailion's crake, whose small size and strictly
aquatic nature afford every possible means of conceal-
ment, and render their capture at any time a mere
matter of chance. Judging, therefore, from the localities
in which our Norfolk specimens have been found, and
from the fact that the dates, where known, correspond
exactly with the spring and autumn migrations of the
spotted rails, we may, I think, fairly class the little
crake — and the same reasoning applies equally to
Bailion's — amongst those birds of passage,"^ which for a

* In Mr. Lombe's notes we have two occurring in successive

400 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

time, at least, periodically frequent our marshes. It is
true tlie nest and eggs of tlie little crake liave never been
identified in Norfolk, nor, until the summer of 1866, was
there any record of those of Baillon's crake having been
taken, yet in the very same locality (Heigham Sounds),
where eggs presumed to be of the latter were discovered
by the merest accident, both species have been observed in
spring ; and both, in all probability, occasionally remain
with us to breed. It should, moreover, be remarked that
with one exception (the locality of which is unknown) the
specimens here recorded, though procured within the
bounds of the " Broad " district, were nearly all found
in the vicinity of the smaller broads, or on the " ronds"
bordering upon the Bure and the Yare; where it is
obvious the chances of flusliing them would be infinitely
greater than amidst the interminable tracts of reeds
which characterise our larger waters. f The three
examples killed in March were evidently met with on
their first arrival, and might or might not have con-
tinued their journey northwards, while the one in April
and the two in May would most probably ha.ve remained
to breed. Again the one killed in August had possibly
passed the summer with us ; and Mr. Harting's bird, in
October, may have visited us on its passage southwards.
Both in the little crake and in Baillon's the sexes
are alike in their adult dress, the immature birds
having the under parts of the plumage of a light
brownish tint in place of the blue-grey, which they
afterwards acquire. In describing, also, the chief
points of difference, at any age, between these two
species, of which Baillon's is decidedly the smallest,
Mr. Harting accurately remarks {" Zoologist," 1867,

years, 1827 and 1828, and a third only two years later, in 1830.
A more numerous arrival than usual of this species also appears
to be indicated by the four specimens obtained in 1833, as recorded
by Mr. J. Clarke.

f The same remarks apply equally to the next species described.

baillon's crake. 401

p. 974), "the little crake in general colouring ap-
proaches the water rail, while Baillon's crake more
nearly resembles the spotted crake." In the little crake,
according to Tarrell, the white spots on the upper surface
are confined to the back and scapulars, but do not ex-
tend to the wing-coverts, whereas in Baillon's crake they
are much more numerous, and more generally dispersed
over the back and wings. In Baillon's crake, also, the
outer web of the first primary is always white, the same
in the Httle crake being as constantly brown.

CREX BAILLONI (Vieillot.)

BAILLON'S CEAKE.

Messrs. Gurney and Fisher describe this diminutive
rail as "very rare, but less so than the little crake,"
yet, to my surprise, I find the records of its occurrence
far less frequent; and although a nest and eggs pre-
sumed to belong to this species, have been recently
discovered, for the first time, in Norfolk, I know of
no instance in which it has been killed in this
county during the last twenty years. Mr. Lubbock,
in his " Fauna," states that, to his knowledge, " it has
been shot three times on Barton Fen, and appears far
more rare than it really is, as it creeps and skulks about,
and scarcely any dog, however sagacious, can compel it
to fly." The same author also remarks in a commu-
nication to Tarrell, " On the 2nd of April, 1833, a fen-
man of my acquaintance killed an adult male of this
species, upon a marsh at Dilham, in this county ; it is
now in my possession. Three years previously he had
killed another at Barton, an adjoining parish; it was
late in autumn, and the bird was in immatm-e plumage."
A specimen in Mr. J. H. Gumey's possession was thus
recorded by him in the " Annals of Natural History "
2 P

402 BIRDS OF NORFOLK,

for 1842j under date of August 23rd. " About ten days
since I received a specimen of that rare bird tbe Baillon's
Crake, killed near Yarmouth ; it is a fine male." Again,
in October, 1849, as Mr. Dowell informs me, lie and a
friend, when snipe shooting at Shropham and on Buck-
enham Fen, killed two of these crakes in the day. One,
unfortunately, was too much spoilt by the dog for pre-
servation, and the other he presented to the Eev. W.
W. Foley, of Brandon, in whose possession it still
remains. Although constantly shooting, however, in the
same neighbourhood over the small chain of fens which
border on the river Thet, he never met with another
specimen.*

The discovery of the supposedf nest and eggs of
this bird, in Norfolk, in the summer of 1866, was
first announced in the "Zoologist" for that year (p.
389) by Mr. J. Overend, of Yarmouth, who, under
date of July 9th, states, " On the 9th of June a friend
of mine in this town was fortunate enough to obtain
in the market four eggs of Baillon's crake,{ and on

* Two Suffolk examples of this crake are recorded by Messrs.
Sheppard and "WTiitear ; one taken near Beccles, and the other at
Nacton.

t It should be borne in mind that although it has been
taken for granted, hitherto, that the Potter Heigham nests were
those of Baillon's crake, yet there is no positive evidence as to the
fact. From the number of instances of the occurrence of the little
crake, in Norfolk, it is quite possible the nests may have belonged
to that species, more especially since no less an authority in oolo-
gical matters than Mr. A. Newton, assures me he does not profess
to know the difference (if there be any) between the eggs of the
two species. In the case of the Cambridgeshire nest, as already
stated, a hen Baillon's crake was taken on one of them.

J The only other recorded instance of the breeding of Baillon's
crake in England, is recorded by Mr. A. F. Sealy in the " Zoolo-
gist " for 1859 (p. 6329), in which year two nests were found in
the Cambridgeshire Fens ; one on the 6th of Jime containing six
eggs, and one in the first week in August, when the hen bird was

baillon's crake. 403

Saturday last [July 7tli] another of my friends was so
lucky as to get five eggs^ of the same species." From
further enquiries at the time, and commmiications re-
ceived from Mr. R. Upcherj Mr. Crowfoot, and Mr.
Frere, of Yarmouth, I was enabled to gather the
following additional particulars. It appears that the
four eggs mentioned by Mr. Overend as purchased on
the 9th of June, were taken on that day, at Potter-
Heigham, or rather on Heigham Sounds, near Hickling,
by a labouring man, who sold them to a lad named
John Smith, at Yarmouth, who had been in the habit
of collecting eggs for Mr. Crowfoot. The former was
of course ignorant as to what they were, but as soon
as their rarity was known, it was elicited from the man
who took them that he had seen the parent birds near
the nest, which was placed in a parcel of reeds growing
in water, about a foot in depth. It was very small
and loosely made, composed of dry rushes. A few days
later Smith paid a visit to the spot with the hope of
securing the nest, but found that the reeds had been
cut and the nest spoiled, and no doubt the man who
discovered it, was employed in reed cutting at the time.
The five eggs procured on the 7th of July were also
taken in the same locality, but of these, unfortunately
three were broken. What became of the last nest I
cannot say, but the two were most likely constructed by
the same pair of birds.

taken on a nest, which had seven eggs. Specimens of this crake
were also killed, during that season, in the same locality where, at
the same time, spotted rails were unusually plentiful.

* Of the first four eggs taken on the 9th of June, purchased
by Mr. W. M. Crowfoot, of Beccles, one only remains in his
possession, he having most liberally parted with the remainder to
Mr. A. Newton, Mr. R. Upcher, and myself. Of those taken on
July 7th, three were broken, and of the other two, one is, I
believe, in Mr. Overend's possession, and the other in the collec-
tion of Mr. A. Crowley, of Croydon.
3 p2

404 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

RALLUS AQUATICUS, LinBteus.
WATEE-EAIL.

The common Water-Rail* is both a resident and
migratory species in Norfolk, the birds which remain
with us throughout the winter receiving considerable
accessions to their numbers in March and April; and
though a large portion of those bred in our marshes pass
southward again at the close of the breeding season,
migratory flights from the north are met with at intervals
in autumn and winter. In support of this view of the
habits of a bird not easy of observation at any season,
I may state that between the middle of March and the
first or second week in April, it is customary to find several
couples of rails in the Norwich market, hanging for sale
with the snipes that simultaneously make their appear-
ance in our marshes. From that time until the close of
the breeding season they are pretty generally dispersed
over the county wherever moist localities afford sufficient
harbour ; and though, of course, most abundant on the
Broads themselves, are known, either by their cries
or the chance discovery of their eggs and young, to fre-
quent the margins of our inland Meres, wet commons,
and even rough sedgy watercourses. That their nests
should be but rarely found on our larger Broads, can
be no matter of surprise to those acquainted with their
haunts in such localities, but in this county, at least,
their eggs are by no means of such rarity as might be
inferred by Yarrell's remark that he *^ never possessed
but two — one from Norfolk and one from Cambridgeshire
— and never saw more than three or four more." In the

* I know of no provincial name for this species in Norfolk
besides that of rail, but in Halliwell's " Dictionary of Provincial
Names," &c., the term " Bidcock " is applied to the water-rail, with
Drayton as the authority.

WATEE-EAIL. 405

« Annals of Natural History " for 1839 (vol. ii., p. 78)
is the following description of a nest of this species
taken by Mr. John Smith, in the summer of that
year, in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth, but the exact
spot is not stated : — " The bird had selected for her
nest a thick tuft of long grass, hollow at the bottom, on
the side of the reed pond ; the nest, about an inch and
a half thick, was composed of willow leaves and rushes ;
it was so covered by the top of the grass, that neither
bird, nest, or eggs, could be seen ; the entrance to and
from the nest was through an aperture of the grass,
directly into the reeds, opposite to where any one could
stand to see the nest." After minutely describing
the appearance of the eggs, which, being now pretty
generally known, it is here unnecessary to repeat, the
same writer remarks : — " On the 20th of June I found
another nest in the same reed-pond; the eggs were
destroyed ; this nest was built amongst the reeds and
very near the water. On the 10th of July I obtained
a third nest from the same place, of eleven eggs, within
two or three days of hatching, the nest and structure
much like the first."

Two eggs in my own collection were taken with others
by the Kev. W. S. Hore, on Horsey Mere, in the summer
of 1850 ; and I have occasionally known them offered
for sale in our market, with those of water-hens, coots,
and grebes. Mr. A. Newton informs me that on the
15th of May, 1853, a nest with nine eggs was found at
Downham, close to the river which there divides this
county from Suffolk, and that on the 8 th of June in the
same year a nest with six eggs was found in Feltwell Fen
in Norfolk. I have also two eggs of this species from
the neighbourhood of Diss, which were taken in 1860
during the fu-st week in June, from a nest which
contained nine ; and in 1862, about the first week
in May, three nests were found at Upton, near Acle,
containing six, seven, and eight eggs respectively.

406 BIRDS or NOEFOLK.

Again on the 1st of May, 1863, I was shown three
young water-rails in their black down, which had
been found in the same locality (one of our smallest
broads) as the eggs of the j)revious year. From the
early date at which these youngsters were hatched, and
the eggs at Diss being taken in June, I presume that
this species has, at least, two broods in the year; and
that it breeds early is proved by the fact that a nest
found by Mr. J. E. Hartmg in Sussex,* in 1868, con-
tained seven eggs on the 11th of April, whilst in other
instances he has met with them only in June and July.
I saw a nest of this rail on the 17th of May, 1867,
amongst some thick reeds on East Walton Common,
near Westacre, but no eggs had been laid. From Mr.
A. Hamond, jun., however, I learn that some have been
taken in other seasons from this spot.

Mr. Lubbock, in his " Fauna," thus alludes to " the
peculiar and explosive cry," as he terms it, of the water-
rail during the breeding season. " Some years back a
youth, the son of the ferry keeper, at Surlingham, told me
he knew of a rail's nest. We went towards the Broad
together to inspect it. As we walked forward, I once
or twice heard a noise, the cry of some bird unknown to
me ; and on questioning my guide, he answered at
once, * It is the rail crying out.' It was so loud and
singular a note that I doubted so small a bird having
such power of clamour; but on creeping up gently
behind some alders, I could see the rails at intervals as
they played about in the vicinity, and satisfied myself

* This nest was found in the parish of Harting, in Sussex, in
an old moat, which three hundred years ago surrounded the house
of Sir Anthony Windesor. It is now nearly dry and much over-
grown with willow, sedge, and coarse herbage. The nest was
placed at the foot of a willow clump, neatlj composed of di-ied flags
without any lining, and almost concealed by the overhanging flags
by which it was surrounded.

WATER-EAIL. 407

that they produced the cry in question. I think that
the male bird only was thus noisy ; but from the long
herbage and reeds from which they only emerged at
intervals, am not certain on this point; the nest con-
tained seven eggs." I have never been fortunate
enough, in like manner, to observe this bird when
uttermg its note, although, hidden in a reed-bush, I
have witnessed their stealthy movements close at hand ;
or, through a good glass, have watched the actions of
a httle family group disporting themselves all uncon-
scious of a looker on; but the cry with which I am familiar
as that of the water-rail, and which has been pointed
out to me as such by the marshmen at Surlingham
and other places, is alike remarkable for its power and
character, and when heard in the stillness of a summer's
night is scarcely less startling on those lonesome waters
than was once the boom of the bittern. On the 17th
of July, 1869, between twelve and one in the morning,
I listened to the cry of this bird at intervals for more
than an hour on Surhngham Broad, and with a thick
white fog enveloping the reed-beds and marshes, the
sound struck me as far more resonant or explosive than
I had ever noticed before.

The departure of a portion, at least, of our home-bred
birds takes place probably about the same time that mi-
gratory flights from more northern localities'^ ai-rive on
our coast, in autumn. Judging from my own experience
and notes of such occurrences, this southward migra-
tion varies somewhat as to date in different seasons.
On two or three occasions, when snipe-shooting at
Surlingham, I have found these rails scattered all
over the drier marshes, surrounding the broad, and
either threading their way between the tussocks of

* In Iceland, according to Faber (Prodromus der Islandischen
Ornithologie, p. 32), the water- rail is a resident bird, leading a dreary-
life in winter, near the hot springs in which that island abounds.

408 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

grass or hidden in the thick herbage and tangled brush-
wood at the foot of small alder or sallow bushes ; while
at other times, should a chance shot be obtained, the
bird is almost invariably flushed near the water's edge,
off the mown *^ hoves," or from the sedges fringing the
larjjfer reed-beds. I have never known them remain
in these numbers for two successive days, but, like wood-
cocks on the coast, resting after their nocturnal flight,
they afford ample sport at the time. At Surlingham,
on the 29th of October, 1853, I fell in with one of these
flights, and had I not been more anxious to kill snipes
than rails might probably have made a good bag ; but
after shooting two couples and a half, which, in spite
of their abundance, took some time, so reluctant were
they to take wing, I left those marshes for better snipe
grounds, to the evident disgust of the marshman's
retriever, which, judging by the " expression " of its
tail, had been enjoying this game of hide and seek to
its heart's content. As a proof, however, of the num-
bers that may be killed in this manner, I remember
that some years since Mr. Henry Dowson, then of
Geldestone, Suffolk, shot ten couples and a half of water-
rails at Surlingham, in one day. This was towards
the end of September, but that these migratory flights
arrive thus early, at times, is proved by the fact that in
September, 184.6, Mr. Do well received from Blakeney a
water-rail, which had been caught alive on board one
of Mr. Brereton's vessels, in the middle of the German
Ocean. Others evidently make their passage^ in Novem-

* Mr. Knox in his " Ornithological Rambles in Sussex " p. 240)
notices the arrival of these birds on the beach at Brighton during
the period of their vernal migration, at which time specimens are
not unfrequently caught alive in the areas and gardens facing the
sea, allured during the night with other migratory birds " by the
long line of gas-lamps which extends, almost without interruption,
from Brunswick Terrace to Kemp Town."

WATER-RAIL. 409

ber, as shown by their being very plentiful in our mar-
kets or in the hands of our birdstuffers at times during
that month; and on the 27th of January, 1867, durmg
severe weather, a bird of this kind, probably attracted
by a light, flew mto the open door of a house at Caister,
near Yarmouth, and was captured. In the spring of
1863 I was shown by the lighthouse keeper, at Hun-
stanton, a water-rail, which had been found dead at the
foot of the building during the previous winter; nor
was this the only instance of the kind he had met
with in this species. At Beeston, near Cromer, imme-
diately on the coast, Mr. T. W. Cremer informs me
they are not uncommon during the winter months ; and
in January, 1868, during frost and snow, Mr. F. Norgate
found several at Sparham, near Norwich, dropped about
in the smaller drains, where he scarcely expected to
find a water-hen. In spite of the migratory nature,
however, of this bird, some few, as before stated, remain
with us throughout the year, and brave the sharpest
winters. I have shot them both on the broads and by
the sides of our rivers and smaller streams, when the
ground has been covered with a deep snow, and the
channel completely frozen over. Why these stragglers
should remain to incur the dangers and privations of
such " hard times " is quite inexplicable ; but when
concealment is impossible amongst the sedges, beaten
down by the frost and choked with snow,^ and escape

* St. John (" Natiu'al History and Sport in Moray"), under
date of December 3rd, 1847, states that a water-rail flushed by him
from a ditch when snow was on the ground, alighted again in an
adjoining field, and immediately endeavoured to make its way back
to the water from whence it had flown. A large gull perceiving
the bird struggling through the snow pounced down upon it,
but the rail flung itself on its back and fought with bill and claws,
even jumping up at and pulling feathers out of its formidable
antagonist. This was repeated again and again, as often as the
gull tried to seize upon it. But at last the gull was driven off
by St. John, and the plucky httle rail reached its haunt in safety.
3 G

410 BIRDS OF NOUFOLK.

by diving is prevented by tlie ice, the unfortunate rail
falls an easy victim ; either compelled to take flight, or,
not unfrequently captured by the dog.

Mr. A. Newton tells me that on the 16th of February,
1856, during frosty weather, he had a live water-rail
brought to him at Elveden. As it had been a good
many hours without food, and there was not the least
chance of its obtaining any if he liberated it, he put
some soaked bi'ead into its bill, and in a few minutes,
while he yet held it in his hand, it began to pick bits
of bread from his fingers. On his setting it down on
the floor with a saucer before it it went fairly to work,
and soon made itself at home, running about the room
and showing great inquisitiveness. It examined every
corner, tried to scramble into all sorts of impossible
places, perched on the cross rails of chairs, jumped up
to the windows, when, of course, it was much surprised
by the nature of glass ; finishing every tour of inspection
with a visit to the saucer, and now and then walking
deliberately to the fireplace, where it shook its feathers
and dozed for a few moments in evident enjoyment of
the warmth. With all this, however, it only lived a
short time.

Messrs. Gurney and Fisher mention a curious instance
of a water-raU being found dead in a meadow at Earl-
ham, near ISTorwich, with a small fish called the
" Miller's thumb " (Cottus gohio) fixed in its throat,
the bird having been choked in the attempt to swallow
it."^ Varieties of this species are very rarely met with.
In February, 1863, I saw a rather remarkable-looking
specimen which had been shot at Lingwood, and had
the upper part of the head, neck, back, and wing-
coverts, thickly sprinkled with white feathers.

* Mr. JefFery in his " Ornitliological Notes from West Sussex "
(" Zoologist," 1868, p. 1034), remarks, " The water-rail is a fish
eater ; three small ' Miller's thumbs' or ' Bull heads ' were found
in the stomach of one."

MOOR-HEN, WATEK-HEN. 411

GALLINULA CHLOROPUS (Limusus).

MOOE-HEN,— WATEE-HEN.

Abundant as is this familiar and most interesting
sjDecies tlirougliout tlie kingdom, it is perhaps no-
where so numerous or so generally dispersed as in
Norfolk. Not only in its main strongholds, on the
Broads and Meres, does it fmd the needful shelter of
reeds and rushes, but the deep sedgy ronds of our
sluggish rivers, extending for miles on either bank,
are a constant resort in summer, and wherever, as is
pecuHarly the case m the vicinity of Norwich, some
smaller streams winding their tortuous course through
the low meadows, abound in alder and osier carrs,
reed-beds, and islands of tangled brushwood, water-hens
may be met with at all seasons, and, though thinned
by the sportsman or an unusually severe winter, will
soon recover then: former abundance. Nearer still
to the habitations of man, this bird, with its strange
mixture of shyness and sociability, frequents the reedy
margins of our inland lakes and other ornamental waters,
however limited in extent, provided only there is suflB.-
cient harbour — some sheltering nook of rank aquatic
herbage and a surface coated with weeds and floating
plants. The ancient moat half choked with vegetation,
the home pond, or pit-hole in the fields, and even, at
times, the centre of a plantation at a distance ffom
water, will form the home of these versatile creatures,
which, adapting their habits to circumstances, will roost
as readily in a tree, shrub, or fence, as amidst reeds and
rushes. The busy sound of a water mill, or foundry, or
the noisy traffic of a railroad skirting their haunts, fails
to disturb their equanimity, for as the train rushes past
we catch sight of them for an instant from the carriage
window, quietly pickmg about in an adjoining ditch.
3 G 2

412 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

But clear that ditch of its weeds, and trim the banks of
the flags and sedges, and, for a time at least, you banish
the water-hens more effectually even than by the use of
the gun.

Mr. Lubbock truly remarks, " though this bird is so
often found exactly in the same situations as the coot,
although they nest and brmg up their yoiuig together,
no birds differ more in habits." The sights and sounds
of human habitation, which drive the coot still further
into its reedy fastnesses, have attractions for the wary
but semi-domesticated water-hen, which feeds with the
marshman's fowls, breeds near his garden, and revenges
itself for the loss of an early sitting of eggs by repeated
raids upon his vegetable produce. In fact the water-
hen has a great partiality for gardens if adjoining the
main river, or skirted by a brook to which they can
retire on the least alarm ; and, whether in outlymg
plantations, or in close vicinity to the keeper's cottage,
will devour barley and other grain with avidity, for, as
the author above quoted states, they " will arrive at the
keeper's whistle even before the pheasants" ; and this
not merely when hard weather has deprived them of
other means of subsistence.

In the Northrepps plantations, near Cromer, a few
of these birds are found constantly in the breeding
season, though rarely seen during the winter months,
and their nests are frequently placed from six to ten
feet from the ground in the silver firs, from which the
young are, no doubt, conveyed to terra firma in the
prehensile feet of their parents."^ There are only a
few small pits of water in the parish at all adapted

In the " Zoologist " for 1854- (p. 4367), Mr. Samuel Gurney, of
Carshalton, states that a water hen which had built on the branch
of a £{■ tree overhansjing the river, and a few feet above the water,
was seen to "fly down with two of her young brood, one in each
foot, from the nest."

MOOK-HEN, WATEE-HEN. 413

to tlie ordinary habits of this species, but they seem
to content themselves almost entirely with the supply
distributed about in shallow pans for the pheasants.
In these coverts a few years back, a very remarkable
display of instinct, amounting almost to reasoning power,
on the part of a water-hen, was witnessed by John
Gaily, a gamekeeper on the estate, the particulars of
which, as related to me, I have no reason to question.
The pheasants are accustomed to feed from wooden
boxes, which, to prevent small birds from eating the
grain, are so constructed that the lid only opens by a
lever when a pheasant perches on the projecting rail in
front. The waterhen having observed the pheasant's
method of feeding also perched upon the rail, but found
its own weight insufficient to raise the Hd, and therefore,
after one or two unsuccessful attempts, went off" in
search of its mate, and, returning to the box, the weight
of the two together effected the desired purpose, and
enabled the sagacious bird to obtain its well-earned
m.eal. Extraordinary as this ingenious device may
appear on the part of this water-hen, it is apparently
not a sohtary instance, as an anecdote similar in almost
every particular with respect to the same species, is
recorded by the late Bishop Stanley in his "Familiar
History of Birds." It would seem, however, from the
following note in the " Zoologist " for 1854 (p. 4255),
by Mr. H. T. Partridge, that, although fond of appro-
priating the pheasants' food whenever opportunity
offers, the water-hen is not always impressed with
a proper sense of its obligations, either to the game-
keeper or the young pheasants : — " At the beginning
of last July, the keeper having lost several pheasants
about three weeks old, from the copse, and having set
traps in vain for winged and four-footed vermin, deter-
mined to keep watch for the aggressor, when, after
some time, a moorhen was seen walking about near

414 BIEDS OF NORFOLK.

the copse; the keeper supposing that it only came to
eat the young pheasants' food, did not shoot it until he
saw the moorhen strike a pheasant, which it killed
immediately, and devoured all the young bird except the
leg and wing bones. "^ The remains agreed exactly with
those of eight found before."

Though sombre in its general colouring, and prone
to concealment on the least intrusion upon its haunts,
the water-hen, whether in its natural element or trav-
ersing with its long wide spreadmg feet some floatiiig
raft of decayed vegetation, forms a conspicuous object
owmg to the pure whiteness of the under tail-coverts,
which contrast so sharply with the dark brown and grey
of the back and breast feathers. Thus, when flirting
their tails up and down and nodding their heads with
a quick nervous action as they pick right and left at any
insect atoms in their path, this species may be readily
distinguished at a considerable distance, and a nearer
view presents the bright colours of the beak and legs.

Their nests, which are too familiar to need much
description here, vary considerably according to cir-
cumstances in the style of construction. The rough
loosely formed mass of reeds, flags, and rushes, which in
some localities may easily pass unnoticed from its simi-
larity to the dried litter around, is very different to that
neatly made rush basket, almost as highly finished as
a coot's nest, which we find occasionally amongst the
outlying reed stems. Some also may be seen inge-

* Mr. Gould states in his " Birds of Great Britain," that a
similar instance was witnessed a few years back on Sir Morton
Peto's estate, at Somerleyton ; and a keeper at the Zoological
Society's Gardens, described this species as very destructive to
the young ducks, even attacking the old ones if they came to the
rescue, and as frequently nesting in the boxes erected for wild-
fowl on the various ponds " when not even a goose dare approach
within some yards of them."

MOOE-HEN, — WATER-HEN. 415

niously arched over with the young reeds as if to conceal
the eggs, whilst others are almost carelessly exposed to
view ; and at times a pretty contrast in colour is shown
when both green and withered leaves have been woven
into the structure."^ Many as are the dangers to which
the young are exposed from four-footed vermin, pike,
and I suspect eels as well, one ceases to wonder at the
abundance of this species, when from five to ten eggs
constitute a sitting, and when, if undisturbed, as many
as three broods are reared in a season; occasionally,
no doubt, two birds will lay in one nest, but on
examining several on the same day in spring, I
have been much struck vdth the variation both in
number and size of the eggs laid, in some nests
perhaps only four or five eggs, but those hard sat upon.
The young in their black down, as depicted in Mr.
Gould's plate in his "Birds of Great Britain," are
most beautiful little objects, with their bright but
evanescent tints about the head and bill, and there
are few prettier sights in summer than a family group
disporting themselves amongst the broad leaves of the
white and yellow water lihes, or snatching their insect
food from the delicate blossoms of the water ranunculus.
Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear state that they have
observed nestlmgs when only a few days old, " running
about upon the tops of the weeds, and picking insects
from them," but that a pair hatched off" under a hen, by
Mr. YoueU, of Yarmouth, took their food " from the bill
of their-foster mother, and it was not until they were
several weeks old that they attempted to pick food
from the ground."

* The Eev. J. Gr. Atkinson, in his " Sketches in Natural
History" (p. 42), describes a nest of this species which was lined
with the last year's oak leaves, " regularly arranged all round and
their points directed upwards." Bishop Stanley also mentions one
which was built near a garden, and surrounded, as if for effect
alone, by a brilliant wreath of scarlet anemones.

416 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

As early as the 2nd of April, 1846, after a mild
winter, Mr. Blofeld found two young nestling water-
liens dead, in tlie sedge fen, at Hoveton, which were
then, at least, two or three days old, and I have
seen the young in the down with young birds about
three-quarters grown, at the end of June, and other
nesthngs even as late as the 29th of August.* The
Rev. J. Burroughes informs me that he has seen a
young bird of the first brood assisting its parents by
bringing materials for a second nest, and the second
brood, when hatched, are also, in part, fed and fostered
by theu' older brothers and sisters; whilst additional
nests are constructed to meet the requirements of
the family so rapidly increasing in size and numbers.
Instances have been known of water-hens raising their
nests to avoid the consequences of a high tide; pre-
vious losses from the same cause having instinctively
led them to adopt such a course. With a like motive,
no doubt, the overhanging boughs of willow and other
trees, a foot or two above the surface of the water, are
not uncommonly selected for nesting purposes, as well
as even loftier situations. f

* Mr. W. Jeffery, jun., in his " Ornithological notes from "West
Sussex," in the " Zoologist" for 1866, gives the following dates
from his own observations of three broods hatched by one pair of
water-hens during that year. — April 1st, first brood hatched off;
April 23rd, a second nest completed and eggs laid; May 20th,
second brood hatched ; June 20th, the old birds drove the first
brood away ; 15th of July, a third brood hatched. These three
broods were thus hatched in a period of about eleven weeks.

f " Rusticus," in his " Letters on Natural History," edited by
Edward Newman, F.L.S., gives an account of a moorhen's nest,
which he discovered on an island, placed some twenty feet from
the ground, in a spruce fir-tree. The island itself was frequently
flooded. Mr. A. Newton also informs me that he has on more than
one occasion found this bird's nest in a fir-tree at a considerable
height from the ground, once at Culford at least twenty feet.

MOOR-HEN, ^WATER-HEN. 41 7

I quite agree with Mr. Atkinson that the water-hen,
•unlike the dobchick, more usually seeks safety in flight
than by diving, but both methods are adopted under
different circumstances. If suddenly surprised on her
nest, the hen bird takes to flight, but if aware in time
of some approaching danger, she invariably, I believe,
dives from her nest as the course least Hkely to draw
attention to the spot; and the eggs will then in all proba-
bility be found covered, a precaution more particularly
adopted in exposed situations. So quietly is her exit
made that a slight bead on the surface alone indicates her
course under water, and till all danger has passed she
shelters amongst the adjoining herbage, with probably
only the tip of the beak out of water. This "state or
posture of submergence," as Mr. Atkinson calls it, is a
marked characteristic of this species, and one which
enables it to escape observation in spots where no other
means of concealment exist. In wide open drains, for
instance, the appearance of a slight bead on the water
as one approaches the bank, raises a suspicion of either
a water-hen or rat, and a dog well accustomed to the
sport, will readily discover the bird's hiding place, by
scenting it from above, or swimming close under the
bank, thus compelling it, however reluctantly, to take
wing. The water-hen till then, holding on with its feet
to the weeds under water, has probably protruded only a
portion of its beak in some crevice of the bank, and
though breathing with difiiculty, would thus in most
cases escape observation. In clear water, I have more
than once detected a bird in the act of hiding in this
manner, and have taken w^eeds from the clenched feet
of one shot under such circumstances. When shooting
at Keswick, near Norwich, where these birds are very
plentifal in the small carrs and osier grounds by the
river, I have watched their habits with no little interest.
Frequently when taking a stand at the further end of
3 H

418 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

the covert, I have seen one or two, alarmed by the noise
of the dogs and beaters, run swiftly to the edge of
the water, and slipping noiselessly off the bank, secrete
themselves amongst the submerged roots. Those too
closely pressed by the dogs will either take a short
flight to a fresh patch of reeds and rushes, diving the
moment they touch the water, or, mounting up, seek
concealment in some accustomed roosting place, amidst
the branches or ivy-covered stems of trees ; and I have
thus counted as many as seven water-hens, at one
time, hiding amongst the foliage of the dark firs. As
remarked, also, by Mr. Atkinson, the water-hen when
flushed, and seeking shelter in a hedge, drops into " the
thickest and bushiest part of it several feet from the
ground, thence threading its way to the bank or ditch
below, unlike the partridge, which at once seeks shelter
at the bottom ; but the following curious incident
shows that this peculiar habit is not altogether unat-
tended with danger. On one occasion, in a thick
fence, at Framingham, near Norwich, Mr. W. Bligh
discovered a water-hen suspended head downwards, a
stout bramble having caught in the feathers of one
side and become so twisted in by the struggles of the
bird that escape was impossible ; and it thus hung till
it died. This was evidently not long, as the feathers
were but little soiled by its mutings, and the body was
in good condition.

In speaking of the various dangers to which the
young of this species are exposed, I omitted to mention
the heron amongst their natural enemies, but there is
no doubt that this voracious bird devours both nestling
coots and water-hens when opportunity offers. Mr.
Selby, on the authority of Mr. Neill, of Cannonmills, near
Edinburgh, states that a winged heron, kept in a garden
by the mill-pond, used to swim out to a willow-tree that
had fallen over the water, and take young water-hens

MOOR-HEN, — WATER-HEN. 419

from a nest built on the projecting branches. The fol-
lowing anecdote also proves that even adult birds, if
wounded or otherwise unable to escape, fall victims to the
heron's carnivorous appetite. Mr. T. H. Edwards, when
shooting by the river at Keswick, near Norwich, on the
7th of December, 1869, mortally wounded a water-hen,
which fell close to a heron that was standing by a drain
in an adjoining meadow. The heron instantly rushed
at the water-hen, and first striking it with its beak,
seized and carried it off to another field, where it was
seen to place its feet on the bird and endeavour to tear
it to pieces with its bill. In order to scare it from its
prey, Mr. Edwards approached as near as he could and
fired off his gun, when the heron again seized the car-
case, and this time flew off with it to a considerable
distance, so that further observation was impossible.
In the act of flying with the water-hen in its biD,
the heron had a most unnatural appearance, the neck
seemed too weak to support such a weight, and was
consequently directed forwards, and downwards, instead
of being thrown back as usual between the shoulders.
The weather up to that time had been mild and open,
so that extreme hunger could scarcely account for this
unusual proceeding.

Unlike the coots and grebes, water-hens on the broads
are but rarely seen upon the open waters, preferring the
close vicinity of the shore, or the narrow channels
between the reed-beds, with safe harbour on either side.
If surprised on the sedgy ronds bordering the reed-
stems a scuttling movement of both wings and feet
brings them at once into covert, whilst those still
further from the shore rise on the wing, and flapping
hurriedly over the water leave a trail on the surface
with their dipping feet. There are times, however,
when the water-hen, mounting well up, takes a pro-
longed flight to some other portion of the river or
3h2

420 BIRDS OF NOErOLK.

broad, and when its pace indicates the same latent
powers possessed in no small degree by oiu* migratory
rails, incapable though they appear under ordinary
circumstances of sustained exertion on the wing. The
voluntary nocturnal flight"^ of this species also in sum-
mer, when its peculiar cry strikes upon the ear as it
circles round and round over its marshy haunts, is in
like manner in direct contrast to its ordinary habits
by day.

Of the numbers bred annually on the broads them-
selves it is impossible to form any conception fi-om the
few which may be seen here and there in the day time ;
it is only in the dusk of a summer's evening, when they
steal from their hiding places, and are either dimly
seen, threading their way against a dark background of
sedges, or clearly defined for an instant as they pass
from shadow to shadow, through the last gleam of
daylight on the water, that any approximate idea can
be formed. At night, also, their presence is indicated,
on all sides, by their loud notes and constant splashings
and rustlings as they play amongst the reeds.

Whilst the coots when fairly frozen out on the broads,
quit their summer haunts, to a bird, for the coast and
its saltmarshes, the water-hens, as Mr. Lubbock remarks,
^^ either not having inclination or ability to migrate,
are terribly cut up." Many, it is true, betake them-
selves to the adjoining fields and stack-yards, but others
still remain till every pool is frozen over, when starved
alike with cold and hunger they fall victims in their
enfeebled state to the carnivorous tastes of the grey
crows and four-footed vermin. Though scarcely to be
termed gregarious at any other time, they collect

* Messrs. A. and H. Matthews, in the "Zoologist" for 1849
(p. 2432) drew attention, from their own observations, to this habit
of the water-hen, which has been rarely noticed by authors though
mentioned by Gould in his " Birds of Great Britahi."

MOOR-HEN, WATER-HEN. 421

together in hard weather, and Mr. Lubbock speaks
of forty-three having been seen during a severe frost
in one open splash of water at the end of an alder
carr. In January, 1867, when a deep snow, drifting
in places with a high wind, stopped all trafnc for a
time, and was followed by several days of intense
frost, these birds suffered severely in exposed districts.
At Surlingham many were picked up in the fields
and lanes, either dead or dying, in a sadly emaciated
state. Others were found on the broad itself frozen
to the ice by their quill feathers, and in some cases
the poor birds had literally torn themselves away,
leaving portions of their tails and other feathers ad-
hering to the ice. The grey crows, more than usually
numerous, were very busy in despatching these unfor-
tunates, but a trap being set, baited with a dead water-
hen, one of the crows was caught, and his cries, acting
as a caution to the rest, they all disappeared and were
not seen again on the broad for a considerable time. A
sure indication of "hard times" is the appearance in
our markets of numerous coots, water-hens, and water-
rails, the two latter by no means to be despised for the
table ; indeed a young water-hen in good condition and
properly dressed is equal in flavour to many species of
wild-fowl.

Pied varieties are so rarely met with, that I have
never seen more than one in Norfolk, the same men-
tioned by Mr. Lubbock, which was killed at Ranworth
by the late Mr. John Kerrison in the winter of 1844,
and is stUl preserved at the hall. This bird is
prettily mottled with white on the back and wing
coverts, and the extreme half of each wing, including
all the larger quills, is also white. If in this respect,
however, the water-hen is not given to variation, it
is nevertheless subject to a strangely abnormal condi-
tion of plumage, affecting alike the tints and the

422 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

texture of the feathers. My attention was first drawn
to this curious fact from the examination of a bird, now
in my collection, which was killed at Lakenham, near
Norwich, on the 16th of March, 1863, and may be thus
described : — All the upper parts of the plumage, in-
cluding the head, neck, back, scapulars, wing and tail-
coverts, secondaries, slightly, and the quill feathers of
the tail are reddish orange over shades of greyish-black,
this singular appearance being caused by each feather
having the basal half black, the anterior portion only
having a reddish hue ; and that most vivid on the back
and shoulders. Primaries dull black, the first quill feather
having the outer web, as usual, edged with pure white.
The feathers of the flanks are also tinged with orange
red, becoming brighter in colour towards the vent;
two or three feathers, however, on either side are
partly white, but not conspicuously so as in ordinary
specimens. Sides of the head, above and below the eye,
dull black, slightly tipped with greyish white, as also
the chin and throat, but the greyish white tips on the
latter are more defined. The rest of the under parts
greyish-white, here and there tinged with orange, but
the basal part of each feather greyish black. Under
tail-coverts white, but with only a few feathers left to
represent this striking feature in the ordinary plumage.
Legs and feet green without the red bar above the
tarsus ; bill greenish yellow, anteriorly, dull red on the
base and frontal shield. The whole of the plumage has
a worn and ragged appearance, resembling rather hair
than feathers, owing to the absence of the interlacing
filaments from the anterior portion of the vane of each
feather, and in passing the hand over the back of the
bird (peculiarly soft and smooth in its normal state),
its roughness reminds one of the sensation experienced
in stroking a wiry coated terrier dog.

The cause of this strange condition of plumage is.

MOOE-HEN, WATEK-HEN. 423

I thinlr, clearly pointed out in the following notes by
my friend Mr. F. Kitton, of this city, who, after a
careful microscopical examination of the feathers in this
specimen as compared with those of the ordinary type,
remarks, *'the microscope does not show any organic
difference between them. The quill and shaft are alike
in both, as are also the down and lower barbs. The
upper barbs are divested of the pennules [the barbules
and other minute subdivisions of the web or vane]
thus producing the alteration in colour and rough
appearance of the bird. I believe that from some
physical cause the bird has not moulted, and the more
exposed portions of the feathers are worn and broken,
as would naturally be the case with feathers retained
for two seasons. The pennules on the upper barbs are
rubbed off, and the tips of the barbs absent; precisely
the same appearance is produced by drawing the barbs
of a perfect feather between the nails." I may add
that I dissected this bird at the time, but failed to
discover any internal evidence of disease. It proved
to be a female, the ovary apparently healthy, and con-
taining a number of minute eggs about the size of
millet seed. A second example, which I purchased
recently and was said to have been killed some few
years back, at Ludham, differs only in being much
smaller, the former being the usual size of an adult
water-hen, the latter a bird about three quarters
grown. From the colour of the bill and legs, however,
the Ludham example would seem to be adult, and its
smallness may be partly owing to a contraction of the
skin in stuf&ng.

Mr. A. Newton, as I have recently ascertained, also
possesses a specimen of this kind, which was killed
near Buckenham House, Norfolk, in November, 1857 ;
and in some notes supplied me by the Rev. H. T. Frere,
of Burston, I find two water-hens recorded as light fawn-

421 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

coloured varieties, which were no doubt similar in
character to the above, as Mr. Frere remarks, " the
person who killed them had a fancy that they were a
hybrid between the water-hen and common corn-crake,"
an idea more than once mooted by friends (but little
acquainted with ornithological matters), on examining
my specimens. In 1864, Mr. J. H. Gurney observed
one in a birdstuffer's shop at Keading, which had been
procured in that neighbourhood; and another, killed
at Bramford, near Ipswich, Suffolk, on the 16th of
December, 1847, is minutely described in the " Zoolo-
gist" for 1848 (p. 2067) by Mr. F. W. Johnson.* It
is somewhat remarkable that this strange condition of
plumage should be found in so many instances in birds
of this species, for although examples in other genera
exhibit, at times, indications of imperfect moulting, I
am not aware of any similar case in which the character
of the bird is so entirely lost owing to a mere physical
defect.

A curious instance of malformation in the feet of
a water-hen shot at Pulham, in 1847, is thus described
by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher in the (" Zoologist,"
(p. 1601): — "Each of the hind toes of this bird pos-
sesses a second claw, which on the right foot merely
springs from about the middle of the true toe ; but in
the left, is attached to a second toe, which proceeds
from the original one, about half-way from its junction
with the tarsus. The supplemental toe and claws are
in each case attached to the outside of the true hind
toe."

In the L'Estrange " Household Book" this species is

* This is the same bird mentioned by Morris, (" British Birds,"
vol. v., p. 43), although his description is not quoted from the
" Zoologist." It is singular, however, that so marked a peculiarity
in the plumage of this species, should have escaped the notice of
other British authors.

COOT. 425

once, and only once, alluded to, under date of 158'J —
" Itm a watter hen kylled wt the gun." — A first victim
evidently to the then ne^iv weapon of destruction, and
affording to the unskilled gunner of those days, the easy
shot still sought for by the school boy or other tyro in
the use of firearms.

FULICA ATRA, Linn^us.
COOT.

The Coot, though an abundant species in Norfolk,
is not so generally distributed as that last described,
preferring the open waters of the broads and meres,
extensive lakes, and large reedy ponds, to the smaller
coverts that content the more familiar water-hen.
Except in close vicinity to the broads themselves, it
is seldom seen on our rivers, but in the neighbourhood
of Surlingham and Rockland, on the Yare, its peculiar
cry may be heard from the deep sedgy ronds ; and in
the wilder portions of the Bure and the Ant, winding
their sluggish course through the very heart of the
Broad district, this bird abounds in the reedy borders,
and is heard and seen at every bend of the stream.
It is plentiful, also, in the Fen districts, both to the
south and south-west of the county, and a few breed
annually in more central localities, such as Scoulton
Mere, the haunt of the black-headed gulls ; and on such
of the meres about Wretham as afford sufficient harbour.
Even Foulmere, though but a short distance from a farm-
house with all the busy sounds of human habitation, has
attractions for this species, in a belt of rushes at one
end of the water, but not so Ringmere or Langmere,
though situated on a still wilder portion of Wretham
heath. A few, I believe, are also to be met with in
3 I

426 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

summer amongst the reeds on tlie saltmarshes about
Salthonse and Cley, but fresli water localities are almost
invariably preferred in the nesting season, when, in the
same neighbourhood, they regularly frequent the ponds
at Hempstead, near Holt; and in one part, in close
vicinity to a water-mill, in spite of the constant noise
of the flushes.*

Having observed these birds on "Bargate," the chief
expanse of water on Surlingliam Broad, still in flocks of
from twenty to thirty as late as the second week in April,
I imagine the nesting of the species does not usually
commence before May; and from the flrst to the last
week in that month I have found their eggs in various
stages of incubation. The nests, which vary some-
what according to their situation, are all more or
less compactly made, large in size, and composed of
coarse materials so firmly interwoven that Mr. Hew-
itson states he has found them capable of supporting
his weight. The outside of this ingeniously formed
basket, usually consists of dried flags, reed, and other
withered plants ; but I have occasionally known the
young reeds and rushes used in part, when the contrast
of the fresh green has had a very pretty effect. The
interior is hned with rather finer substances, chiefly
with portions of the dead leaves of the reed. Though
not unfrequently placed in dry situations — on the sedgy
bank of an island, or the rushy margin of a pond or
lake — I have more commonly found them, on the broads,
built over the water amongst the reed-stems, in shallow
spots, resting on the weeds at the bottom, in others
well raised above the surface, but so fastened to the
reeds themselves as to rise with the tide, though with

* Mr. J. H. Gurney has also observed this species on the river
Mole, at Leatherhead, in Surrey, swimming about with young
ones at no great distance from the water-wheel of a mill.

COOT. 427

but little danger of their getting adrift."^ When thus
placed amongst the outlying reeds or rushes, gro%ving
half out of the water, the nest is rather conspicuous, and
I have never found the eggs in any way covered ; uideed,
under these circumstances, there would not be suf&cient
materials at hand to do so effectively. The bird dives
^ quietly from the nest, on the first alarm, and, hke the
water-hen, remains submerged till all danger is passed.
When placed on the shore with plenty of dried Utter
around, probably the coot may, at times, take the pre-
caution of covering its eggs before leaving them, but
my own experience on this point differs entirely from
that of Bishop Stanley, who describes the coot as com-
monly adopting this plan, whereas in no one instance
have I seen it done. I have frequently found six and
seven eggs in one nest, which I imagine to be the
usual complement, but occasionally as many as ten are
found by the marshmen. It is probable, also, that at
times two birds may have laid in the same nest.
When, as is some times the case, not more than two
or three are found, but those hard sat upon, the bird
has most probably been robbed of her previous layings.
The eggs vary much in size in different nests, and the
smaller ones are supposed by the marshmen to belong to
the youngest birds; I have occasionally seen a water-
hen's egg amongst them laid to the coots. William
Hewitt, the keeper at Hoveton, many years back used
to search the wet bottoms of the coots' nests for me-
dicinal leeches, which at that time were worth one
shiUing a-piece, but none have been found in those
waters for some years. As many as three and four

* Bewick gives an instance in which a coot's nest, built on Sir
William Middleton's lake at Belsay, I^orthumberland, was loosened
from its moorings by the wind, and floated here and there on the
surface of the water. The hen bird, however, still continued to
sit, and hatched off her young.

3 I 2

428 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

might be taken from one nest, amongst tlie layers of
coarse flag forming tlie foundation, and below the
surface of the water.

The young coots in their nestling plumage are even
more brightly-coloured than the young of the water-
hens, as shown in Mr. Gould's plate in his "Birds of
Great Britain;" yet, strange as those little creatures
appear in their rich tints of orange, vermillion, and blue,
from specimens I have seen at that particular stage, the
artist's colouring can scarcely be termed exaggerated.
This most interesting dress, according to Mr. Gould, is
retained only for three or at most four days, although
the black down still marks their nestling state for some
time longer, it is but rarely therefore that an oppor-
tunity ofiers for examining them so young, more par-
ticularly as even at that early period of their existence
they quit the nest on the least alarm and seek shelter
amongst the surrounding herbage, where, as is so
accurately described by Bishop Stanley, they copy all
the artifices of the parent birds, by diving and submer-
sion, to conceal their tiny forms beneath the floating
leaves. In their natural element, however, fresh dangers
await them, and the pike, amongst their worst enemies,
closes its hungry jaws upon many of these floating puff-
balls.

Under ordinary circumstances the coot seems re-
luctant to take wing ; and if disturbed on the water
flies low over the surface to the nearest shelter, dipping
with its feet as it hurries along, but, like the water-hen,
it makes more extended flights by night, and may be
heard calling as it passes over head. Notwithstanding
however, its nocturnal habits in this res]3ect, the coot
feeds by day, and is on that account supposed to attract
wild-fowl to its haunts, which, relying on the wary
nature of the coots to give the earliest intimation of
danger, rest contentedly during the day-time when in

COOT. 429

such company. Their food consists in chief part of
grasses and aquatic plants, with insects, worms, and
slugs, when extending their researches to the land
adjoining their watery home; they will also eat grain
like the water-hen, though too shy to seek it in the
same open and persistent manner.

"A broad without coots," writes Mr. Lubbock,
^' would be London without sparrows or Newcastle with-
out coals," and the number reared annually through-
out that district amidst a wilderness of reeds and
rushes, must be something enormous, although, as
compared with former days, their diminution might
be estimated almost by the acreage of fen -land now
under cultivation. At Horsey, years ago, as Mr. Rising
informs me, a fair held every spring ia that locality
was known as " coot custard fair " from the fact of
all the sweets being then made with the eggs of
these birds and of black-headed gulls. At Siu-lingham,
by no means a large piece of water compared with
Hickling, Horsey, or Ranworth, five or six hundred eggs
have been taken in a season according to Mr. Lubbock,
who, writing in 1845, speaks of their eggs being at
that time much sought for, though " formerly the birds
were unmolested till the young could ily." In autumn
and winter they collect together on the open waters of
the larger broads in immense flocks, their numbers greatly
increased, at times, by migratory arrivals, and when thus
collected together, large numbers have been killed at a
shot, with big guns. A fen man at Hickling, on one
occasion, in answer to Mr. Lubbock's question as to the
number of coots visible, estimated them at "about an
acre and a half,""^ which, as that gentleman remarks, "is

* The author of " British Field Sports " states that " he has
actually beheld upon the Manningtree river, in Essex, a shoal of
coots reaching tivo miles in length, as thick as they could well
swim, and half a mile over."

430 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

not SO vague a mode of calculation as at first appears,
for coots swim evenly at regular distances from each
other without huddling together into dense masses like
wild fowl." The same author speaks of the moor-
buzzard or marsh-harrier being in former days useful
to the fowler, "in driving the coots together so as
to afford a better shot." He has known thirty-one
killed at one discharge, when thus driven in by a
pair of harriers. This habit of flocking together when
attacked by the larger raptores is likewise referred to by
Sir Thomas Browne, who, speaking of the great flocks
of coots that in his time collected on the "Broad
waters," remarks, " upon the appearance of a kite or
buzzard, I have seen them unite from all parts of the
shore, in strange numbers, when, if the kite stoops
near them, they will fling up and spread such a flash of
water with their wings, that they will endanger the
kite, and so keep him off again and again in open
opposition ; and a handsome provision they make about
their nest against the same bird of prey, by bending
and twisting the rushes and reeds so about them, that
they cannot stoop at the young ones or the dam while
she sitteth." With regard to this latter statement,
however, if such a device was ever practised by the
coots in former days, for the protection of themselves
and young, unquestionably their descendants, no longer
in terror of moor-buzzards or kites, adopt no such
precautions. According to Messrs. Sheppard and
Whitear, also, the same tactics are displayed by the
coots when attacked by the larger gulls, as they state
that on one occasion they observed the former '*on
the approach of their enemy, rush together from all
quarters, and form a close, round, compact body,
appearing like bees in the act of swarming. The
gull kept hovering over their heads, and frequently
dashed within a yard or two of them. Whenever he

COOT. 431

flew to a distance the coots dispersed, and again at his
return flocked together." Mr. Rising, of Horsey, has
a young glaucous gull in his collection, which was killed
in November, 1847, in the act of pouncing upon a dead
coot. The coot was shot as it rose from a reed-bush,
and the gull, which, with several more was flying over
at the time, instantly pounced upon the coot, and was
shot whilst standing on its intended prey.

The custom of attacking the coots with boats and
guns, when collected in large bodies either in spring
or autumn, is referred to by Messrs. Sheppard and
Whitear,"^ in 1825, and is still adopted on some of
our larger broads. At Hickling, where these bbds
collect together in immense numbers, a coot shooting
party is an annual institution. A day being fixed for
the sport, boats, filled with gunners, assemble from the
neighbouring villages to join the proprietor and his
friends in a general fusillade, and outsiders, posted in
every available spot upon the banks and marshes, are
prepared to wait for a chance shot. The coots are then
driven out of the reed-beds and bushes on to the open
water, and the boats, advancing in line, work them
gradually up towards one end of the broad. Wlien
thus closely pressed, they rise en masse, and sweeping
back over the heads of the gunners, the battue opens
on all sides, a dropping fire being kept up from the
marshes as the birds scatter m their flight. The same
method of collecting and driving is repeated, as soon
as the coots have settled on the further extremity of
the water, and this several times in succession, until
the survivors are fairly driven from the broad, and

* The same authors also state that the fowlers on the Stour,
were accustomed to approach the coots upon the ooze, "by con-
cealing themselves behind a screen made of bushes, placed upon
a tiledee and driven before them."

432 BIRDS OF NORFOLK.

thus more than a hundred are generally obtained in
one day. Considering, however, the reckless firing
both on land and water, in the excitement of the
sport, the miscellaneous character and questionable
safety of many of the fire-arms, and the unskilful hands
that use them, it seems an almost special act of provi-
dence that no serious accidents occur. It would be
well also to confine this sport entirely to the winter
months before the departure of the coots for the sea-
coast, as on their return in spring even the survivors
are unsettled, and many driven from the locality ; whilst
I have known nine great crested grebes, just returned to
their breedmg haunts, indiscriminately slaughtered at
the same time. On the 8th of December, 1868, I had
the pleasure of joining a small party for coot and
duck shooting, on Hoveton Broad. A very favourable
breeding season, and the prolific growth, even in the
deeper waters, of that most troublesome weed, Ana-
cJiaris alsinastrum were supposed jointly to account
for the unusual amount of coots, and the latter no
doubt formed a special attraction for a considerable
flock of tufted ducks. Our party being distributed
about in favourable positions, some in boats and some
on shore, the same means I have just described were
adopted for collecting and flushing the birds, which
were assisted in rising by a stiff breeze, and in the
bright sunlight of a winter's morning, the appearance
of that immense body of coots on the wing, when
flushed on all sides at the first drive, was alone worth
going to see; nor was the rushing sound of their
wings less strange as they rose from the water. It
was remarkable at what a distance the pure white
forehead of this species could be distinguished, even in
flight, and their pace when fairly mounted up, with
the legs stretched out under the tail, fully justified
Colonel Hawker's advice to shoot well forward, as a

COOT. 433

coot will carry off a considerable amount of shot if
planted behind the wings.

Bishop Stanley thus alludes to the reluctance with
which the coots quit the broads for the coast in severe
weather : — "On a mere, where, from constant observation,
we knew the precise number, they would remain as long
as a few square yards of water were unfrozen, sitting on
the ice, or swimming with a sort of despairing rest-
lessness round their rapidly contracting space, as if
unwilling, while hope of thaw was left, to seek shelter
elsewhere." Mr. Lubbock also remarks — "when the
water in general is frozen, they will crowd into the wake
made by the swans, which always remains open long
after the main pool is frozen. An opening of this kind
is sometimes entirely filled with coots. They appear
to dislike the migration to salt water, which is then
their only resource, and to be willing to undergo any
hardship rather than leave their beloved broad." I
have found them in severe seasons, at Surlingham, when
only a small channel remained open in the deepest parts
of the broad still endeavouring to conceal themselves
amongst the reeds and rushes. Even the noise made in
cutting through the ice in order to bring the boat nearer
to the edge of a reed-bed has failed to disturb them,
but the dog finding a firm footing amongst the reeds,
has soon compelled them, one after another, to take wing,
thus affording a succession of easy shots, and I have
known six or seven started from an almost incredibly
small space. Many, however, when shot in this manner
are lost from their breaking through the ice in their
fall and drifting under its surface; and I once proved
to demonstration, by this kind of shooting, the tendency
of wire cartridges to carry like a ball, as a coot that fell
to a very long shot upon the ice broke through, and
in the same hole I picked up the bird and the empty
cartridge case.
3 K

434 BIKDS OF NORFOLK.

When compelled, however, from the necessities of
hmiger to quit the fresh waters for a time, the coots
on any one broad migrate in a body, by night,* to
the saltmarshes and flat oozy shores by the sea, and
this so simultaneously that not a bird remains behind.
There fresh persecution awaits them from the punt
guns on Breydon and other parts of the coast; and
in severe seasons their numbers are greatly thinned,
some times twenty or more bemg killed at one shot.
The " cripples," as Mr. Frere tells me, that have
escaped the gunners at the time are sure to be
found secreted amongst the loose stones of the wall,
which forms the boundary of those tidal waters, and a
good retriever will thus pick up several in a morning,
besides other fowl. He has also seen a coot, though
quite dead, still clinging by its feet to the weeds under
water, to which it had attached itself for the purpose
of submersion and concealment. Many couples may be
seen at such times for sale in our markets with other
fowl, being offered at sixpence a piece, and when pro-
perly cleansed from the thick black down under the
feathers, are said to be very fair eating,t but except
amongst the marshmen and labouring population of our
Broad district, they seem but little appreciated. Most
of the fenmen, according to Mr. Lubbock, prefer them
to a wild fowl. The pace at which a winged coot will
run, when once landed on the ooze, is almost incredible,

* Captain Blakiston in a paper " on the Birds of the Interior
of British North America" ("Ibis," 1863, p. 135), states that the
American coot (Fulica americana) " has a habit of making a sharp
ratthng noise at night ; and, moreover, is said to migrate during
darkness only."

f Colonel Hawker, in his instructions for preparing coots for
table, remarks particularly " that a coot shot in the morning, just
after roosting, is woi'th three killed in the day when full of grass,
because it will then be whiter and milder in flavour."

COOT. 435

and many tlius escape by swiftness of foot ; but whether
thus endeavourmg to save its life, or quietly picking its
way over the '' hoves " in summer, and feeding as it
walks, all unconscious of danger, I could never perceive
the awkwardness in its gait, remarked by some authors,
although, like the water-hen, it has peculiar and dis-
tinctive actions.

I have no doubt that many of our home-bred birds,
when frozen out on the broads and rivers, proceed south-
wards for a time, and swell the numbers that accumu-
late in hard winters about Poole harbour and other
well-known resorts ; there is no question, also, that
our own flocks are largely increased at times by mi-
gratory arrivals. The so-called Salthouse "Broad,"
and marshes, were formerly a great resort of coots
during the autumn and winter. In September, 1842,
Mr. Dowell observed a flock there, numbering some five
hundred birds, but which was not considered at all a
large quantity, as hundreds would sometimes arrive in
one night. Overton, the well-known gunner on that
part of the coast, always remarked that no matter what
number of these birds might make the shore in the
night, they would all arrive singly, dropped about, here
one and there one, but in the morning they collected
together into dense flocks. On their first arrival, also,
they always swam close together, so that twenty or
more might be killed at a shot, but after a day or two
they separated when feeding, and still more so when
alarmed according to their ordinary custom; in this
respect differmg much from the habits of most wild-
fowl. The spring migration commonly takes place in
March, when, preparatory to our residents pairing off
for the season, the coots are again seen in large bodies
upon our broad waters, and even then, as before stated,
fresh attacks are not unfrequently made upon them.
Varieties of this species are so rarely met with that I
3k2

436 BIRDS OP NOEFOLE.

have never either seen or heard of one killed in this
county, but a curious example having the whole plumage
white, except the head and tail, is stated by Messrs.
Sheppard and Whitear to have been seen on the Stour,

in 1825.

PHALAROPUS LOBATUS, (Linnseus).

GEEY PHALAEOPE.

The Grey Phalarope, so termed from the prevailing
tints of its winter plumage may, I have no doubt, be
reckoned amongst our regular autumnal visitants, since
scarcely a year passes but one or more specimens are
recorded as either seen or procured; and although my
notes from 1850 to the present time exhibit two or three
exceptions to the general rule, these are owing, I believe,
rather to a deficiency of information than the total
absence of the species. By Messrs. Gurney and Fisher,
in 1846, this bird was also described as visiting us " oc-
casionally, but much less frequently," on its passage
northward in spring, but though such may have been
its former habit, I know of no single instance within
the last thirty years of its appearing otherwise than at
the close of the year. Of thirty specimens killed to my
knowledge in various parts of Norfolk, during the last
twenty years, two only have appeared as early as the
month of September, fifteen in October, eight in Novem-
ber, four in December, and one in January, from which
a pretty accurate idea may be formed of the ordinary
date of their southward migration. Both the excep-
tional instances in the month of September, occurred
in 1866, when an almost unprecedented number were
killed in different parts of England, especially in the

GEEY PilALAEOPE. 437

south-eastern and southern counties."^ At that time,
according to Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., who pubhshedf a
very interesting paper on this extraordinary immigra-
tion, the dates of their appearance ranged from the
20th of August to the 8th of October, but the bulk of
the specimens were procured between the 15th and 25th
of September, and the largest number, in one day, on the
18th of that month. From Mr. Gurney's painstaking
researches it appears that upwards of five hundred of
these beautiful little creatures were sacrificed to the rage
for collecting specimens, of which number two hundred
and fifty were killed in Sussex alone, the habitual
tameness of this species and its unsuspecting nature,
everywhere exposing it to danger. It is difficult to
account in any satisfactory manner for so remarkable
an influx of a species, which, though a constant, has
been rarely known as a numerous, visitant to our
shores, but even if their abundance was in this in-
stance the result of an unusually favourable breedmg
season, Mr. Gurney is probably right in presuming
that their appearance on our eastern and southern
coasts was owing to " the severe and premature gales "
which prevailed in September of that year. As far as
I could ascertain at that time, only four specimens were
procured in Norfolk ; the first on the 22nd of September,
which was seen swimming in a small XDond on Swarde-
stone Common, and was killed by an old woman with

* Mr. Gould (" Birds of Great Britain,") speaks of a considerable
flight wliich appeared some years since on the coasts of Devon
and Cornwall when large numbers were killed during the month
of October, and he further states that the first time this species
was observed in abundance at Plymouth, was about five and thirty
years ago.

t " A Summary of the occurrences of the Grey Phalarope in
Great Britain during the Autumn of 1866," by J. H. Gurney, jun.

438 BIRDS OP NORFOLK.

a stick ; another sliot on Breydon, in October, and two
near Lynn in December. Others, however, were said
to have appeared on the coast in the neighbourhood
of Hunstanton ; and at Lakenheath, Suffolk, near the
boundaries of the two counties, one was j)icked up dead,
under the telegraph wires, on the 20th of September.

In proof of my remark that, as a rule, this species is
by no means a numerous visitant, I may state that, as
shown by the entries in my note books of specimens
procured, in no one year have they exceeded four or five,
and that only in 1866 and in the autumn and winter of
1867. In all other cases their number has not exceeded
two. It is stated, however, by Messrs. Paget that in
1828 eight or nine specimens were killed near Yar-
mouth. By far the larger proportion of those of which
I have any record have been killed in close vicinity to
the coast, though commonly on some pond or stream
of fresh water; and the brackish waters at the back
of Salthouse beach are a favourite resort, from whence
I have had two or three examples. Occasionally, they
have been found far inland, as in 1854, when a pair
were shot at Hellesdon Mills, near Norwich; and the
one killed at Swardestone in 1866, is another mstance.
In the "Zoologist" for 1847 (p. 1640), Mr. C. B.
Hunter records the appearance of four grey phalaropes,
in the winter of 1846, " on the pond belonging to the
farm at Foulmere on the Wretham estate. They were
swimming about, quite tame, with the ducks belonging
to the farm," and had frequented that spot for about
three weeks. Soon afterwards one was shot out of four
on a Mere close to Wretham Hall, which were no doubt
the same as had been previously observed. This bird
is also recorded by Mr. A. Newton in the " Zoologist "
(p. 1693.)

Most of the specimens I have examined, killed in this
county, have been young birds of the year, but some of the

GREY PHALAROPE. 439

older ones have still shown traces"'^ of the rich bay tints
cf their summer plumage, which contrast so strangely
with the delicate grey and white of their winter dress.
In this species, as with the dotterel (Charadrius mori-
nellus), the female is both larger in size and brighter in
the colours of its nuptial dress than the male ; and a
still greater anomaly is pointed out in the following
passage from Gould's " Birds of Great Britain," " I am
informed by Professor Steenstrup, of Copenhagen, that
the duty of incubation appears to be performed by the
male only — a circumstance which appears to be confirmed
by the bare state in which the breasts of specijnens of that
sex are often found." Mr. Harting, who has recently had
an opportunity of observing the habits of this graceful
little bird, remarks ("Zoologist," 1870, p. 1973) that a
specimen which he afterwards secured for his collec-
tion, when " swimming round and about, now and then
pecking at some water-weed, seemed to resemble the
gallinules ; like them nodding the head at every stroke
of the foot. When standing on the ground at a httle
distance, it looked not unlike a ringed-plover, but at
this season of the year it was much whiter." Its food
consisted of small flies and beetles, with a slight admix-
ture of vesretable matter.

PHALAROPUS HYPERBOREUS (Linnaeus).

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE.

This species, which is readily distinguished from that
last described by its smaller size, and longer and more

* See some remarks on the autumnal change of plumage in
the grey phalarope, by Mr. M. A. Matthew, in the " Zoologist "
for I860 (p. 500). Mr. Blake Knox, also (" Zoologist," 1867, p. 683)

4<40 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

slenderlj-formed bill, has become exceedingly rare on
our coast of late years, and even in former times appears
to have been a far more irregular visitant than the grey
phalarope, although occasionally met with both on its
autumnal and vernal migrations."^ Since the year 1850,
a period of just twenty years, the following are the
only instances of its occurrence that have come to my
notice : —

1850. October 20th. One killed near Yarmouth. —
1851, October 24th. One in Mr. Dowell's collection,
shot at Blakeney; several more "little swimming
birds" were said to have been seen at the same time, but
whether of this or the grey species is not known. — 1853,
November 9th. A solitary female was shot by Mr. J.
Brownfield, of this city, in the act of skimming over the
river at Trowse Eye, near Norwich, as recorded in the
"Naturalist" for 1854 (p. 164).— 1854, November 4th.
Morris, on the authority of Mr. James Hunt, records
a specimen as killed at this date at Yarmouth, near
the mouth of the river. — 1859, September 23rd. One
at Hickling. — 1867, May 24th. A male in the collec-
tion of Mr. Overend, of Yarmouth, was killed near
Horsey Mere, as recorded in the "Field" on the 1st
of June (vol. xxix). — 1868, October 31st. A bird of
the year, in winter plumage was shot at Stalham, and
preserved for Mr. Silcock, of that place. An immature
specimen was also shot at Lakenheath Fen, Suffolk,

remarks upon the lightness and transparency in the texture of the
feathers of this species, most apparent in the winter grey feathers
which, " when overlapping a summer feather, the summer feather
can be seen through it as through a mist."

* It is somewhat singular that according to M. Van Wicke-
Toort-Crommehn, who has published an excellent paper upon it
(" Archives Neerlandaises," 1867 (pp. 76-83), this species has only
lately occurred in Holland (20th of September, 1866), though the
grey phalarope has been often obtained there.

KED-NECKED PHALAEOPE. 441

on tlie 28th of November, 1860, as recorded in tlie
"Zoologist" for 18G1 (p. 7316).

It is remarkable, however, that a species so nncer-
tain in its movements, even when more plentiful than
it is now, should have appeared in unusual numbers,
on the same part of our coast, and in three successive
seasons, as shown by the various records in the " Zoolo-
gist" from 1846 to 1849. In that journal for 1846
(p. 1552), Mr. J. H. Grurney states that he received
during the 1st week of November a specimen of this
phalarope from Salthouse, which he believed to be the
fourth procured in that neighbourhood during that
autumn; adding that the last Norfolk specimen he
had seen was killed several years before at the adjoin-
ing parish of Weyborne, by the late Sir T. F. Buxton,
who described it as " swimming like a duck" when first
noticed. Probably one in Mr. Dowell's collection, shot
at Salthouse, as early as the 21st of July in that year,
is one of the four thus mentioned. In the *' Zoologist "
for 1847 (p. 1955), Messrs. Gurney and Fisher remark,
*^we have seen four specimens of the red-necked
phalarope, which were killed at or near Salthouse
during the month of September. Two of these, which
were killed in the beginning of the month, retained
much of the summer plumage ; in the other two, which
occurred about the end of the month, it had almost
entirely disappeared." Of these Mr. Dowell has one
in winter plumage. According to the same authors, also,
a single bird of this species was killed at Weyborne on
the 3rd of October, 1847 (" Zoologist," 1848, p. 1965) ;
and on the 26th and 30th of September, 1848, two
specimens were procured at Waxham, near Yarmouth,
as recorded in the "Zoologist" for 1849 (p. 2353). Of
those above enumerated, three specimens are in Mr.
Gurney's collection, and a paii-, I believe, in Mr. Upcher's
possession at Sheringham Hall. The partiality of this
8 L

442 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK.

species, as well as the grey phalarope, for tlie brackish
waters on Salthouse beach and the adjacent marshes,
is singularly marked in the above instances, all but one
having been obtained on that particular point of the
coast. About Yarmouth, even as far back as 1834, they
were described by Messrs. Paget as "very rare," although
Mr. Miller possessed a pair — one in winter and one in
summer plumage — the former possibly the same men-
tioned in Sir William Hooker's MS. notes as killed on
Breydon in the winter of 1824, but this species is not
mentioned by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear. I have
never been able to secure a recent example of this phala-
ro]3e for my own collection, but I lately purchased a
stuffed specimen which was shot at Scoulton Mere, in
August 1829, the only occurrence in that month with
which I am acquainted.

From the above dates, then, both of the earlier and
more recent examples, it appears that the autumnal
migration of this phalarope, like that of the more
numerous species, occurs most commonly in the months
of September, October, and November ; there is no
record of its appearance either in December or January.
It would seem, however, from the bird killed at Tar-
mouth, in May, 1867, that this species, occasionally
at least, adopts the same route in spring, on its passage
northward, as on its southward migration ; yet in the
case of Mr. Dowell's bird, killed on the 21st of July,
it is di£S.cult to say what direction it was pursuing at
the time, as in Dunn's " Ornithologist's Guide to
Orkney and Shetland," the red-necked phalarope is
said to arrive in the Orkneys in July and to breed
there in August. At least such was the case in 1837 ;
but, according to the same authority, as quoted by Mr.
More in his "Distribution of Birds in Great Britain
during the nesting season" ("Ibis," 1865, p. 439), it is
no longer found in the Orkneys, a fact which may in

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 443

some degree account for its extreme scarcity during
tlie last ten years, on tlie Norfolk coast, as compared
with former days. It still breeds, however, according
to Mr. More, in a few scattered localities in the
counties of Perth, Inverness, Sutherland, and in the
Outer Hebrides ; and Mr. H. J. Elwes, I am told, found
it breeding in Benbecula, one of the Western Isles, and
took nesbs of four eggs each in the first week of June,
1868.

With reference to the note at p. 440, on the recent
occurrence only, according to M. Crommelin, of this
species in Holland, I may add that Mr. Keulemans, as I
am informed by Mr. J. E. Harting, once shot a red-
necked phalarope, on the coast of Holland, in winter.
Temminck (" Man. d'Orn.," 1st ed., p. 458), undoubtedly
claimed it as an accidental straggler to Holland, but
if such had been the case, it is, at least, a singular fact,
as stated by M. Crommelin, that not a single example
should be found in any collection in that country.

This species is subject to a considerable seasonal
change of plumage, though scarcely to the same extent
as the grey phalarope, and the female is larger in size,
and in summer brighter in colour, than the male.

END OF VOL II.

INDEX.

A

American Bittern, 174

Little Stint, 366
Ardea alba, 149

„ cinerea, 130

„ comata, 151

„ garzetta, 150

„ purpurea, 145

,, rzcssata, 151
Avocet, 237

B

Baillon's Crake, 401

Bar-tailed Godwit, 253

Battue Coot shootinp:, 431

Bidcock— Water Rail, 404

Birds — abundance of some species in

hard weather, 69, 171, 285,

356, 372, 435
„ attracted by gas lamps when

migrating by night, 70, 195,

277, 409
„ deformed beaks or feet in. 424
„ killed against lighthouses, 195,

276, 377, 409
„ killed against telegraph wires,

68, 277, 334, 37>, 392, 395,

438
„ migratory, returning to same

spot, 283, 291
„ netting of in the fens and on the

coast, in, 124,376
„ parasites of, 348
„ trustworthy as weather guides,

66
„ varieties of — see Varieties
„ various notes of in each species,

93, 197, 341
„ various species migrating in

company, 71, 73, 74, 7B, 90,

195

Birds — wholesale destruction of, and
their eggs, deprecated, 79, 89,
104, 106, 170, 207, 263,
281, 308, 312
Bittern American, 174
„ common, 159
„ „ hawking of, 173

„ Httle, 154
Bittour or Bittern, 173
Blackbirds migrating with woodcocks,

275
Black Curlew or Ibis, 191
Black-tailed Godwit, 248
Black- winged Stilt, 244
Black Stork, 182
Botaurus lentiginosus, 174
„ minutus, 154
„ stellaris, 159
Bottleybump or Bittern, 166
Broads, sunset on the, 163
Broad-billed Sandpiper, 359
Brown Snipe, 348
Browne Sir Thomas, collection of eggs,

&c., 128
Buff-backed Heron, 151
Buff-breasted Sandpiper, 358
Bustard great, 1

„ gular, pouch of, 3

„ coursing of with greyhounds,

22
„ list of local specimens and eggs

in collections, 32
„ migratory habits of, 29
Bustard little, 42

Calidris arenaria, 116
Cambridge Godwit, 204
Carolina Crake in England, 392
Cayenne Night Heron, supposed spe-
cimen of, 175

446

INDEX.

Charadrius cantianus, 97
„ hiaticula, 84

„ intermedins, 95

„ minor, 96

„ morinellus, 76

„ pluvialis, 66

Ciconia alba, 177

„ nigra, 182
Clinkers or Avocets, 240
CoUai'ed Pratincole, 64
Common Bittern, 159
„ Curlew, 194
„ Heron, 130

Redshank, 207
„ Sandpiper, 230
J, Snipe, 305
Commons, inclosure of, 104
Coot, 425

„ battue shooting of, 431
„ leeches in nests of, 427
„ custard fair, 429
Corn Crake, 387
Courser cream-coloured, 48
Crake Baillon's, 401
„ Carolina, 392
„ corn, 387
„ little, 396
„ spotted, 393
Crane, 125
Crex bailloni, 401
„ forzana, 393
„ praiensis, 387
„ pusilla, 396
Cms einerea, 125
Curlew black, 191
„ common, 194
„ great harvest, 198
„ pigmy, 350
„ stone, 51
Curlew Sandpiper, 350
Cursorius europmus, 48

Dotterel, 76

„ hawking of, at Thetford, by

King James I., 82
„ origin of the word, 84
Double Snipe, 299

Drainage, effects of on wild species, 306
" Drain " Dunlins, 382
Dunlin, 371

„ enormous flocks of, 374
,, large and small races of, 380
„ migrating by night, 378
„ netting of, 376

E

Eggs, collection of Sir Thos. Browne,
128
„ false statements of dealers in,

154
„ numbers of taken, and various
methods employed, 93, 105,
429
Egret little, 150
Ec/rittes, Lapwings, 151

F

Flood the ereat in the fens, 116, 207,

250, 283
FuUca atra, 425

GaJlinula cMoropns, 411
Glareola torquata, 64
Glossy Ibis, 191
God wit bar-tailed, 253

„ black-tailed, 248

„ Cambridge, 204

„ day on Breydon, 253
Golden Plover, 66

„ whistling over the city

by night, 70
Great Bustard, 1

„ Plover, 51

„ Snipe, 299

,. White Heron, 149
Green-legged Shank or Knot, 357
Green Plover or Lapwing, 103

,, Sandpiper, 215
Greenshank, 234
Grey Phalarope, 436

„ Plover, 101

„ Snipe, 348

H

Hamatopus oslrulegus, 122
Half Snipe, 334
Harnser or Heron, 130
Hawking bitterns, 173
„ curlew, 64
dotterel, 82
herons, 132, 136
„ stone curlew, 64
Heron common, 130

„ hawking of, 132, 136
„ attacking water-hens, 418
„ great age of, 139
„ passage of, 138

INDEX.

447

Heron buff-backed, 151

„ great white, 149

„ night, 174

„ purple, 145

,, sqiiacco, 151
" Hill" of ruffs, 268
Himatitopus melanopterus, 244
Household Book of the L'Estranges,

extracts from the, 2, 76, 87, 103,

125, 126, 136, 142, 173, 198, 202,

215, 271, 275, 280, 324, 357, 373,

424
Ditto the Northumberland, 78, 112,

125, 127, 141, 173, 184, 215, 324,

357, 374
Ditto the Lord North, 76, 78, 112,

127, 141, 173, 199, 253

IhisfalcJnelhis, 191
Ibis glossy, 191

Jack Snipe, 334

Kentish Plover, 97
Knot, 354

Landrail, 387
Lapwing, 103
Leeches in bitterns' nests, 168

„ in coots' nests, 427
L'Estranges of Hunstanton, extracts
from Household Book of the, 2, 76,
87, 103, 125, 126, 136, 142, 173,
198, 202, 215, 271, 275, 280, 324,
357, 373, 424
Limosa melanura, 248

„ rufa, 253
Little Bittern, 154
Bustard, 42
Crake, 396
Egret, 150
Gallinule, 396
Ringed Plover, 96
Stint, 361

M

Machetes fugnax, 261
Macro rhamphus grisens, 348

Martin Snipe, 224
Maybird or 'VVhimbrel, 199
Maychit, 233

" Meals," plants found on the, 275
"Mews," derivation of the term, 357
Migration evidences of, by night, 67,
70, 90, 378
„ with or against the wind,

273
Moorhen, 411

„ extraordinary instinct of a,
413

N

Nests singularly constructed or in
strange localities, 131, 216, 415,
416
Netting of plover, &c., in the fens. 111
„ of various species on the coast,
124, 376
Night Heron, 174
Norfolk Plover, 51

„ hawking of, 64

North the Lord, extracts from House-
hold Accounts of, 76, 78, 112, 127,
141, 173, 199, 253
Northumberland Household Book, ex-
tracts from, 78, 112, 125, 127, 141,
173, 184, 215, 324, 357, 374
Numenius arquata, 194
„ phceopus, 199
Nycticorax gardeni, 174

0

(Edicnemus crepitans, 51
Olivaceous Crake, 396
Otis tarda, 1

,, tetrax, 42
Oxbird or Dunlin, 379
Oyster catcher, 122

"Passage" Herons, 138

Pectoral Sandpiper, 367

Peewit or Lapwing, 103

"Picks" and " Scamells," Godwits, 260

Pigmy Curlew, 350

Phalarope grey, 436

„ red-necked, 439
PJialaropus hyperboreus, 439

„ lohatiis, 436

Flatalea leucorodia, 184

448

INDEX.

Plover great, 51

greea or Lapwing, 103

golden, 66

grey, 101

Kentish, 97

little-ringed, 96

netting of in the fens. 111

Norfolk, 51

ringed, 84

small race of, 95
Pratincole collared, 64
Purple Heron, 145
„ Sandpiper, 384

R

Eail land, 387

„ water, 404
Rallus aquaticus, 404
Recurvirostra avocetta, 237
Red-breasted Snipe, 348
Eedleg or Redshank, 213
Redshank common, 207
spotted, 203
Red-necked Phalarope, 439
Reeve, 261
Ringed Plover, 84

„ small race of, 95

Ringlestones, 86
Ruff, 261

Sabine's Snipe, 343

" Sand-flood," strange record of at

San ton Downham, 17
Sanderling, 116
Sandpiper broad-billed, 359
buff-breasted, 358

„ common, 230

„ curlew, 350

„ green, 215

„ pectoral, 367

„ purple, 384

„ spotted, 233

„ wood, 226

„ yellow- shanked, 215
Seolopax brehmi, 333

,, gaUinago, 305

,, galUnula, 334

„ major, 299

„ rnssata, 332

„ rusticola, 272

„ sabinii, 343
Sea Woodcock, 260
Sea Dotterel, 86

Sea-pie, 122

" Shoeinghorn," or Avocet, 237
Shovelard or Spoonbill, 184
Snipe common, 305

„ „ abundance of at times,

326

„ „ causes of diminution in,

308

„ „ "drumming" of, 315

„ „ large race of, 331

„ „ perching on trees, 328

Snipe brown, 348

„ great, 299

„ grey, 348

„ jack, 334

,, ,, abundance of at times, 338

„ martin, 224

„ red-breasted, 348

„ Sabine's, 343

„ summer, 224, 230
" Solitary" Snipe, 299
Spoonbill, 184
Spotted Crake, 393

Redshank, 203

„ Sandpiper, 233
Spowes or "Whimbrel, 201
Squatarola cinerea, 101
Squacco Heron, 151
" Stale," origin of the term, 267
Stilt blackwinged, 244
Stints or Dunlins, 373
Stint American little, 366

„ little, 361

,, Temminck's, 363
Stone Curlew, 51
Stonehatch, 85
Stork black, 182

„ white, 177
Strepsilas interpres, 113
Summer Snipe, 224, 230
Sunset on the broads, 163

Tangle-picker, 114

Telegraph-wires destructive to birds,
68, 277, 334, 377, 392, 395, 438
Temminck's Stint, 363
Totanus calidris, 207

„ flavijies, 215

„ fuscus, 203

,, glariola, 226

„ glottis, 234

,, tigpoleucus, 230

„ macularius, 233

„ ochropus, 215

INDEX.

449

Tringa, canutus, 354
maritima, 384
minuta, 361
jtectoralis, 367
jilatyrhyncha, 359
fusilla, 366
rufescens, 358
subarquata, 350
temmincki, 363
torquata, 381
variabilis, 371

Turnstone, 113

Varieties, 110, 199, 201, 215, 295,
333, 384, 421, 436

W

Waders, power of diving and swimming
in, 122, 233, 357

Water-hen, 411

„ abnormal plumage in, 421

„ remarkable instinct in, 413

Water-rail, 404

Whimbrel, 199
Whistling Plover, 66
White Spoonbill, 1 84

„ Stork, 177
"Whole" Snipe, 334
Wolley's the late Mr. John, donation

to the Norwich Museum, 361, 365
Woodcock, 272

„ abundance of in some

seasons, 280, 284
„ large and small race of, 293

„ mode of carrying their

young, 292
„ probable cause of diminu-

tion, 280
„ remaining to breed, 287

„ weight of, 294

„ sea, 260

"Woodcock" snipe, 304
Wood Sandpiper, 226
" Wypes" or Lapwings, 109

"Yarwhelp" or Godwit, 252
Yellow-shanked Sandpiper, 215

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STEVENSON AND CO., PEINTERS,

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