in the Neighbourhood of Thetford, Not folk. 525 



bird, which is here termed the summer snipe, is seen at 

 intervals, from its appearance in the spring, throughout the 

 summer months, frequenting the sides of our rivulets, ponds, 

 &c, still its nest has never been met with in this neighbour- 

 hood, nor is there any authenticated account of its having 

 been found breeding in this country, unless its eggs have 

 been confounded with those of the snipe, which breeds in 

 many of our fens and marshy grounds in this district. I have 

 the following entries of disturbing this bird during the sum- 

 mer of J 835 : — June 21st, a single bird ; July 19th, a pair; 

 July 29th, three pairs, all together; August 3d, a pair; and 

 September 8th, a small flock of several individuals ; and dur- 

 ing the present spring, April 15th, 20th, 29th, and May 18th, 

 only a single bird at each time. Judging from these circum- 

 stances, I suspect it breeds in our immediate neighbourhood. 

 It is easily distinguished by its uttering a clear shrill whistle, 

 and showing its white rump, which is very conspicuous when 

 the bird is flushed. 



Lesser Petty chaps {Sylvia Hippoldis Lath.) and Wood Wren 

 (S. sibildtrix Bechst.) are both decidedly very rare in this 

 immediate neighbourhood. I have neither seen nor heard a 

 single individual of the former during the two past summers; 

 and I have only met with one instance of the latter within the 

 same period, and that at Shadwell Lodge, on the 19th of 

 June, 1835, when I discovered a pair of old birds feeding a 

 nest of young ones. 



Dotterel (Charddrius Morinellus Linn.) does not breed with 

 us, although it annually arrives in small flocks on our warrens 

 and heaths in the spring, but has of late years very much 

 decreased in number, in consequence of the incessant perse- 

 cution it undergoes from our gunners during the short period 

 it remains, which generally does not exceed three weeks or 

 a month, after which it takes its departure northward for the 

 purpose of nidification, which hitherto has not been supposed 

 to be in this country. " At a meeting of the Members of 

 the Zoological Society, held in January last, Mr. Yarrell 

 presented a case of dotterel, containing a pair of old birds, 

 one young one, and an egg : they were taken from the Skid- 

 daw Mountain, last summer, by T. C. Heysham, Esq., of Car- 

 lisle." This interesting fact clearly proves that, at any rate, 

 a few pairs, if not the whole bod)' that visits us in the spring, 

 do remain to breed in this country ; and I have no doubt, 

 when the Grampians, and other like situations, are thoroughly 

 examined by practical ornithologists, it will be found breed- 

 ing there also. This species, during its autumnal migration, 

 again makes its appearance in this district about the end of 



qq 3 



