JUNE.

19th. Received a Hawfinch from Bury, which Mr. W. H. Tuck thinks had been hatched about the middle of April, the time they begin to pair according to Yarrell. I protect Hawfinches, and am rewarded by their eating my white-heart cherries, to which I object, and yew berries, to which they are welcome. At Wiveton Mr. Pashley tells me they stripped three large rows of peas in one night, throwing many of them on the ground in mere wantonness. When recording the two Little Bitterns at Rollesby Broad last year (Zool. 1894, p. 88), I was not then aware that there was also another on a small lake near Watton, thirty-two miles west. More fortunate than its relatives, it was carefully protected, and the owner was rewarded by the same or another returning, about May 21st, to spend the summer on his water. Invited to come and hear its curious note, I acquiesced in its resemblance to the sound made by a paviour ramming stones, or the distant barking of a dog. Nothing would induce it to rise. On coming home and contemplating a young one in a cage at Keswick, and noticing the extraordinary drawn-up thinness of it (exactly like Mr. Griffith's picture (Zool. 1894), except that its neck was often even more contracted in breadth, while in length elongated to its utmost), and its immovability, and resemblance to faded rushes, I can well understand that it might be within a few feet and yet be invisible. Mr. Griffith's photograph, though very good, does not show the peculiarity of the legs. The tarsi are sometimes at different angles, and the feet point in different directions, without incommoding the Bittern in the least. By the end of June it was clear to the owner of the lake that there were two Little Bitterns, unless they are marvellous ventriloquists, for one "barked" on one side of the mere, and one on the other. On the morning of July 25th Mr. P. reported that after a heavy rain one of them sat on the top of the Ducks' enclosure, sunning himself and "barking" for ten minutes. I did my best to stimulate search, and a nest of some kind was found, but its ownership was not proved, and no eggs were laid. By the 22nd of August the birds had gone.

28th. A new colony of about thirty Herons' nests was noted at Reedham (W. H. Hudson). A fully-fledged Hawfinch was caught at Beeston Regis (T. W. Cremer), and a male Crossbill

was shot at Cromer, where a pair of these birds appeared in a large garden in the town, with four young ones able to fly, but probably bred in the woods near. I soon afterwards heard from Mr. R. Clarke that several flocks of Crossbills had been seen in the neighbourhood of Sandringham, and Mr. Cordeaux noted some in the Humber district (Naturalist,' 1895, p. 2). In the autumn they again appeared near Swaffham, and I think they are becoming much commoner than formerly.

JULY.

13th. A Short-eared Owl was caught alive at Framingham Pigot, near Norwich, and was afterwards sent me by Mr. S. Bligh. From its rich colour and the down between the ear-tufts it was apparently a young bird.

18th. A Homing Pigeon of my son's, liberated at Lowestoft, flew to Keswick in fifty minutes; a good record.

19th. A Curlew at Keswick.

31st. Seven Grey Crows were seen at Yarmouth by Mr. Patterson. They are not often met with at this time of the year.

AUGUST.

2nd. Two Wood Sandpipers seen at Hickling (Bird). 20th. Two Wigeon seen at Hickling (Bird).

22nd. A Garganey was shot near Lynn by Mr. Cresswell.

25th. A pale variety of the Redshank was shot at Cley by Mr. Gunn, who also saw a very pale-coloured Curlew, at first reported to be a white one; and later on a white Woodcock was seen by the keepers at Horsford.

SEPTEMBER.

10th. An immature female Barred Warbler, Sylvia nisoria, was shot at Cley by Mr. W. H. Connop. It had the under tail coverts a good deal barred, and the wing coverts edged a little with white. Six years ago one of these birds was shot, on the same date, at the same place; and on this occasion one had been shot only seven days before, in Yorkshire.

18th. A female Alpine Ring Ouzel was shot on the beach at Cley by Mr. T. E. Gunn, answering to the description of Turdus alpestris in Dresser's Birds of Europe,' where there are four figures given of this southern variety (vol. ii. p. 113; supp. p. 653).

21st. Mr. Patterson noticed and for some time watched a

bird which from his description must have been an Alpine Accentor, near Yarmouth.

25th. Mr. Patterson found floating upon the river Bure a three-bushel sack which proved to be crammed full of dead Black-headed Gulls, in fact nearly 100 of them, and most of them minus their wings. Many a visitor to our "Broads" is deprived of pleasure by such thoughtless and selfish destruction as this. 27th. The first Lapland Bunting was seen at Yarmouth (G. Smith), four days later than the first seen last year. 28th. A Fulmar Petrel at Cley (Pashley).

OCTOBER.

1st. A Kentish Plover at Yarmouth (Patterson), and a Yellowbrowed Warbler at Cley. The latter was shot by a labouring man who only wished to empty his gun, and little thought he was firing at the first Norfolk example of Phylloscopus superciliosus. It has the stripe on the crown very faint, and is probably a young bird. Three were shot on the 8th, 13th, and 15th, in South Yorkshire, probably a part of the same migratory flock, which indeed reached to Italy, where, as I learn from the Rev. H. A. Macpherson, one was killed between Nice and Genoa about the third week in October. The head stripe is scarcely perceptible in one of the Beverley trio, which, through the intervention of Mr. F. Boyes, I obtained from Mr. George Swailes. Eleven examples of the Yellow-browed Warbler have now been met with in the British Isles, two of which have not been recorded, though obtained twenty-seven years ago. These were shot by Mr. J. H. Jenkinson and Mr. Pechell on the Scilly Islands, October, 1867, the same month which produced one at Cheltenham, and were thought to be only young Firecrests (cf. Birds of Cornwall,' p. 249). One of Mr. Swaile's birds was exhibited by Mr. Harting to the British Ornithologists' Club, and he has commented on this, and on its recent occurrence in Norfolk (Zool. 1894, p. 459). With the Yellow-browed Warbler the Norfolk register is brought up to 298, to which Dr. Sharpe now tells us we may add Holbüll's Redpoll ('British Birds,' i. p. 47). Three days afterwards another bird, nearly as rare, namely, a young Red-breasted Flycatcher, Muscicapa parva, was shot at Cley by Mr. G. E. Power. Perhaps the next novelty to be found at this favoured seaside spot will be the Crested Titmouse. No Blue

throats were seen there, and, so far as I know, none were announced on any part of the east coast of England during 1894.

9th. A young male White-eyed Duck, Fuligula nyroca, was shot at Yarmouth (G. Smith).

13th. Received a pair of Gadwalls from a mere in West Norfolk, and later on another pair, but I find these Ducks shy, and much more difficult to keep alive than Pintails. In Hunt's time (1815), the Gadwall was called "a Rodge," probably signifying an eater of aquatic roots (cf. Harting, Zool. 1882, p. 296).

15th. A Great Snipe was shot at Reedham (G. Smith), and a Little Gull at Cley (Pashley); two other Little Gulls were seen at Cley, and a Shag killed (G. E. Power).

16th. Lapland Bunting at Cley (Power). Others seen afterwards by Mr. W. H. Dobie.

17th. Little Auk at Cley (Power).

19th. Fulmar Petrel washed up at Yarmouth (Patterson), and another about the same time at Cley (W. H. Dobie).

On the 24th I noticed the barometer very low, and the 25th was as cold a day as I ever experienced, when standing shivering outside a covert; in spite of which, Mr. Pashley informs me, a dull-plumaged female Roller was shot, either on this day or a few days before, at Barton; but the Roller, though tropical in appearance, has a high northern range. A walk with my gun convinced me that birds were on the move. Mr. Patterson, from his station at Yarmouth, observed Rooks, Jackdaws, and Starlings flying south in continuous flocks; and a Sea Eagle was seen by several people at Northrepps, mobbed by about forty Rooks, which gradually drove it out to sea. Two large flocks of Longtailed Ducks were viewed at sea by Mr. Dobie swimming westwards; and a Black-bellied Dipper, Cinclus melanogaster, a bird which the late Mr. Stevenson associated with severe weather, was shot at the back of Aylsham watermill, as I learn from Mr. Southwell, who adds that its gizzard contained elytra of the Whirleygig Beetle (Gyrinus). It was afterwards presented to the museum, when I had an opportunity of noting that the whole of the white breast was suffused with specks of brown, doubtless the last indication of immaturity. There was not a tint of chestnut on the under parts. This interesting species is now reckoned almost an annual visitant to Norfolk, whereas the typical British C. aquaticus has occurred but twice in the county.

27th. Redwings and Fieldfares were observed coming in flocks straight over the sea (Dobie).

NOVEMBER.

5th. A Fulmar Petrel at Yarmouth (G. Smith). 19th. A Peregrine seen near Wells (Col. Feilden). 20th. A Spotted Redshank was shot at Barton. 26tb. A Black Redstart at Cley (Ramm).

28th. A Green Sandpiper, Totanus ochropus, at Surlingham. 29th. Two Sclavonian Grebes shot on the Bure (G. Smith).

DECEMBER.

4th. A Sea Eagle was killed at Shottesham (J. A. Cole), possibly the same which had been seen at Northrepps and afterwards at Hemsby.

11th. A Richard's Pipit was caught at Caistor, as I am informed by Mr. G. Smith, at whose house it was at the time of writing, thriving on mealworms. It, however, soon died, and was presented by Lord Lilford to the Norwich Museum.

14th. A male Salmon 36 in. long and weighing 13 lbs. was taken in an eel-trap at Keswick mill, where no one ever recollected a fish of this species having been seen before; indeed, its appearance in any Norfolk rivers is very rare, and this one must have passed through three mills-Trowse, Lakenham, and Keswick-which seems extraordinary.

On bringing these Norfolk Notes to a conclusion, I should like to make an apology. If I was the person who gave Mr. Howard Saunders the information that as recently as 1840 there were Guillemots on Cromer cliffs (vide Yarrell, Brit. Birds, iv. p. 70), though my name is not mentioned, I can only say that I am sorry I was so incautious. There is no reason for supposing that Guillemots ever bred at Cromer, and assuredly not so lately as 1840. The cliffs, as Mr. Southwell has pointed out, are too friable and sandy, with hard clay in places, but quite devoid of rocky ledges such as Guillemots love to haunt. The excuse for the mistake lies in the misapprehension of the meaning of the name "Foulness," applied in maps to this headland of our coast. In the opinion of Mr. W. Rye, the well-known antiquary, it does not mean "Birds' headland," as I incorrectly supposed, but a foul or dangerous place where good ships may come to grief.