70 



BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



to break the eggs ;" a superstition at least so far con- 

 sistent with natural causes, that warm sultry weather 

 is preferable for incubation to a cold backward spring. 

 The eggSj which vary somewhat in tint, are of a greenish 

 white, and in size proportioned to so large a bird. The 

 appearance, however, of such addled specimens, as may 

 be seen in Rich's cottage, occupying an ornamental posi- 

 tion on the mantel-shelf, might puzzle many an oologist, 

 unaware that their rich brown polished hue, like knotted 

 oak, is the result only of the "gude wife's" patience, in 

 first encircHng them with thin layers of onion peeling, 

 and then extracting and impressing the stain by careful 

 boiling. 



Incubation usually occupies five weeks, or about a 

 week longer should the weather be very cold, but if 

 the eggs prove addled the hen will continue sitting for 

 seven or eight weeks, or till driven from her nest by 

 the marshmen. A remarkable and fatal act of perse- 

 verance in this respect is thus recorded by Hunt in 

 his "British Ornithology" (vol. ii., p. 194): — "A swan 

 having built a nest on a part of Bungay Common, the 

 season being very wet and unpropitious for incubation, 

 the eggs became addled, nevertheless the female continued 

 sitting upon them until she dropped dead from her nest 

 and floated down the river." The cock bird is at this period 

 particularly attentive to his mate, and boldly resents the 

 intrusion of man or beast within too close proximity 

 to the nest. Of this fact Mr. Hunt, as an eye-witness, 

 also supplies us with a local instance which occurred 

 in the well-known channel that connects the " Bargate" 

 entrance to Surlingham Broad with the main river. Here, 

 as not unfrequently happens at the present day, a swan 

 had built her nest on a small island, near the mouth of 

 the broad, and being at that time sitting on her eggs, 

 her mate for a considerable time disputed the passage of 

 a water party, " boldly attacking the boat and striking 



