120 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



A SUMMER'S NIGHT ON THE BROADS. 



It was on the lOtli of June, 1859, that I paid my 

 first nocturnal visit to Surlingham, one of our prettiest 

 broads, and, from its close vicinity to the Brundall 

 station, one of the most easy of access by rail from 

 Norwich. The evening train had deposited me in close 

 vicinity to the water, where a marsh-man with his boat 

 was waiting by appointment, and soon the heat and 

 bustle of the city were forgotten in the enjoyment of 

 that quiet scene, as we passed from the main stream 

 into the long narrow channel, which connects the broad 

 itself with the navigable river. The following extracts 

 from my own notes, made at intervals throughout that 

 lovely, and only too short, midsummer night, will best 

 serve to convey to my readers the various little incidents 

 of such an excursion : — 



6.30. p.m. Eeed birds singing a little, but the wind 

 rather too high to hear them properly. Yery few 

 sedge birds heard on the marshes, and none amongst 

 the reeds, as they have been sitting for three weeks, 

 and some have probably hatched off. Sand-martins in 

 plenty playing over the water, and starlings arriving in 

 flocks. One snipe flushed on the marshes, which are 

 Covered at this season with the gayest wild flowers, 

 and a reed ^bird's nest found with four eggs, and sup- 

 ported on four reed stems. — 8 p.m. Starlings settling 

 on the reeds for the night,^ but not in large numbers. 

 Sand-martins and a few swallows stiU out after insects. — 

 8.30 p.m. Sand-martins in swarms over the water and 



* By the 13tli of July I have known the starlings assemble 

 here in immense flocks, and when disturbed in the reed beds, 

 after dark, make a noise not unlike the roar of the waves, as their 

 wings seem to rattle against the reed stems in their fright. 



