408 BIEDS OF NOEFOLK. [APPENDIX B.] 



nually in the fens of Norfolk, a locality quite unsuited 

 to its habits, and commented upon by Mr. Stevenson in 

 a foot-note, at p. 64, vol. ii., of the " Birds of Norfolk," 

 has been corrected by the publication of a more accu- 

 rate copy of the same letter, with others from celebrated 

 Norfolk naturalists, in the " Trans, of the Norfolk and 

 Norwich Nat. Soc." (ii., p. 404), where the following 

 note by Professor Newton explains the origin of the 

 error : — 



" A copy of this letter, which is in an injured condi- 

 tion, was printed by Dr. Bree in the ' Field ' news- 

 paper for November 9th, 1867, from a transcript m the 

 handwriting of, and lent to him by, Mrs. Lescher [sister 

 of Mr. Hoy] . Some part of that portion which is now 

 missing must then have been in existence, but the letter 

 had probably already sustained some damage. . . . An 

 attempt has been made here to restore the missing por- 

 tion with the help of the older copy, the words supplied 

 being enclosed by square brackets." The portion of 

 the letter as restored by Professor Newton reads as 

 follows:— "On the [20th May, 1827, a pair of the 

 pra] tincole Glareola austriaca, were shot nea[r Yar- 

 mouth. A specimejn of the Gallinula minuta, of Mon- 

 tague, was [shot near Yarmouth last] May. 



" I have received several sp [ecimens of godwits, 

 8calopax oigocephalal & Limosa, at different times 

 from Y2i[rmouth. A few of them breed a9^] nually in 

 the fens near Yarmouth, i[n the same locality as the 

 Rufs, wit]h. wh[tc]h they are sometimes taken." It 

 will thus be seen that the accidental omission of a por- 

 tion of the letter in the transcript completely altered 

 its sense, and made a remark appear to refer to the 

 pratincole, which in the original applied, and correctly 

 so, to the godwit. 



Professor Newton has very kindly forwarded me a 

 series of letters with reference to a pair of these birds 

 said to have been killed in Norfolk, in 1810, now in the 

 collection of Mr. Thomas Boynton, of Ulrome Grange, 

 Lowthorpe, Hull. It appears that Mr. Boynton pur- 

 chased these birds of Dr. W. W. Boulton, of Beverley, 

 who stated that he was informed they were " shot off the 

 breakwater^ near Yarmouth, November, 1810, by Mr. 



