180 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



had first tlie pleasure of hearing and seeing this bird in 

 Norfolk, when crossing just such a locality as that 

 described by Mr. Newton, and from whence Mr. Dix 

 has sent me several specimens during the last two or 

 three years. The note of this lark, so soft and sweet as 

 the bird circles round and round in its flight, is quite 

 immistakeable, as is the bird itself, from the peculiar 

 shortness of the tail when observed on the wing. It is 

 most probable, I think, that they leave us for a time 

 during the winter months, though returning again very 

 early in spring. On the 26tli of February, 1864, writes 

 Mr. Dix, " I saw a flock of seven ; they rose close to me. 

 I could scarcely believe I was not mistaken till I heard 

 their call note. I mentioned it to the keeper a day or 

 two after, when he said he noticed them about the same 

 spot a fortnight before, and he knows the birds well, 

 having shot them for me. I have seen the flock several 

 times since, and shot one for you. They squat so close, 

 that though the ground was quite bare I did not see 

 them till they were up. Mr. R. Reynolds, who used to 

 live at Thetford, assured me that he had one specimen 

 of the wood-lark, shot at Rushford, in December ; it was 

 killed with several sky-larks out of a flock." Messrs. 

 Gurney and Fisher, in the "Zoologist" (p. 1702), men- 

 tioning the fact of a pair having been observed on some 

 hollies, at Easton, in March, 1847, observe — "We are 

 inclified to suspect that the few birds of this species 

 which are found in Norfolk, arrive about this time, and 

 that the opinion which we have expressed as to their 

 remaining in Norfolk through the winter is incorrect." 

 To this statement I may add that the only specimen I 

 have ever seen in this neighbourhood was a female, 

 shot on the 3rd of March, 1858, near Norwich, whilst 

 passmg high over head in company with another bird, 

 but from the extremely dingy appearance of its plumage, 

 I much question if it had not escaped from confinement. 



