1902 Norfolk Broads in Autumn 273 



it greatly down by their weight and fightings for the 

 most desirable perches. And the worst of it is, that 

 they always select the best and tallest patch of reeds 

 to roost upon first; and where, as here, the reed -beds 

 are extensive, constant persecution is necessary to drive 

 them away. When stress of weather compels them to 

 seek the shelter of the woods at night-time, they show 

 a decided preference for plantations containing large ever- 

 greens, such as laurels and rhododendrons ; but there also 

 their arrival is not appreciated. True, their aerial evolu- 

 tions are marvellously beautiful to watch, and their inces- 

 sant chatter is enlivening ; but the stench of their excreta 

 is considerable, and the shrubs and tree-tops are frequently 

 killed by the continued presence of their thousands. 



Next to the congregating of the Hirundines, the silence of 

 the Sedge and Reed Warblers and the departure of the home- 

 bred Pewits and Redshanks bespeak the waning of the 

 year ; and the arrival of a few weird-voiced Curlew or 

 Whimbrel, a solitary Green Sandpiper, or a little trip of 

 Golden Plover, are also unmistakable tokens of the approach 

 of shorter days and longer nights, in which the Cockchafer, 

 having given place to the more useful Dor Beetle {Gcotrupcs 

 stercorarius), the Eels will begin to run down to the sea, and 

 the Eel -setter's nets will be stretched to anticipate and 

 prevent them. For some weeks the young male Robins — 

 now arrayed in adult plumage — have been making subdued 

 attempts at song, notes which harmonise well with the dull, 

 still days so frequent, in early autumn, when the gossamer 

 webs, for want of a breeze to float them, bestrew the 

 stubbles, and the reeds rustle not, nor does a ripple stir the 

 placid bosom of the Broad, save where the shallowness of 

 the water forces the dorsal and upper tail fins of a shoal of 

 Bream to pierce, and in their movements to disturb, the 

 otherwise unruffled surface of the clear water. It is at this 

 season of the year that a few belated Swallows flicker low 

 over the ollands, where the second -crop clover, though 

 nightly fed by the cart-horses since haysel, is still in bloom, 

 and still grows so thickly in places that we wonder how the 

 ploughshares will be able to cover it up when the time soon 

 comes for turning over the land in preparation for sowing 



