MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 259 



usual. I shot six in very fine condition; their crops were crammed with 

 berries. — Idem. 



Golden Plover. — I have seen and shot Golden Plovers about the sheep- 

 folds. — Idem. 



Green Sandpiper. — I yesterday shot the Green Sandpiper, rather a rare 

 bird hereabouts. — Idem. 



Greenshanks. — On Monday I saw three Greenshanks, by no means com- 

 mon visitors with us. — Idem. 



Swallows. — On that day too, there was an uncommon assemblage of 

 Swallows on the wire-fence in front of the house: as they have been less 

 numerous since, it would seem that a party has emigrated. — Idem. 



Nightjar. — A pair of Nightjars have sojourned with us for some time, 

 and their cm-ious mode of perching lengthwise on a bough, and their ac- 

 tive pursuit of insects in the evening are very amusing. No gun is ever 

 fired about the garden or shrubbery, nor any interference with birds per- 

 mitted, so that a variety of species, both tame and wild, find a quiet 

 retreat, except when some prowling fox or cat invades their territory, or 

 any impudent Sparrow-Hawk makes a marauding excursion. — Idem. 



Golden Orioles and Broad-hilled Sandpiper in Norfolk. — A pair of Gol- 

 den Orioles, in fine plumage, were killed at Lakenham, near Norwich, 

 about the middle of May last; and a male specimen of the Broad-billed 

 Sandpiper was procured about the same time at Yarmouth. — T. Southwell, 

 Fakenham, August, 1856. 



Wryneck. — The occurrence of the Wryneck in the North of England, 

 being, I believe, decidedly rare, I may as well inform you that one was 

 shot in this parish to-day. For two days previous I had watched it, and 

 during this period it never strayed far from one spot. It was feeding on 

 the slight embankment of a coal-railway, from whence it flew, when dis- 

 turbed, to the adjoining hedge. Coal trains were passing at least every 

 quarter of an hour. When I first discovered it, these would just startle 

 it away for a few minutes; but to-day I saw a train pass within two 

 yards of it without putting it up. — G. Sowden, Houghton-le-Spring, Dur- 

 ham, October 3rd., 1856. 



Black-headed Gull. — When staying at Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk^ 

 not long since, I was taking my usual ramble on the beach, far from the 

 town, when I observed one of the Gull tribe endeavouring to reach the 

 sea across the sands; perceiving the bird was wounded, I hastened to in- 

 tercept its progress, and after some little trouble captured it, when I 

 discovered it to be the Black-headed Gull, {Larus ridibundus,) and taking 

 it home with me, kept it till I left the sea, for Walsham, in a little 



