164 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



broad. In fhe following summer, one if not two pairs 

 remained in the same locality, notwithstanding that a 

 single bird had been unfortunately shot during the pre- 

 vious season; and on visiting the Hoveton guUery, on 

 the 7th of May, Hewitt pointed out to me the spot 

 where he had seen one on the 13th of April. The Rev. 

 J. Burroughes also informs me that he both heard and 

 saw one there about the same time. No nest was 

 found, but though left, I believe, quite undisturbed in 

 their summer quarters, I fear they must have been 

 killed during the following winter, when two or three 

 bitterns were shot in that neighbourhood, as I cannot 

 learn that they have since been either heard or seen. 



The summer of 1868 was, however, remarkable for 

 the discovery at Upton, near Acle, one of the smaller 

 broads, not only of two eggs of the bittern, but subse- 

 quently of a young bird taken alive in its first plumage. 

 The eggs, as stated in the "Zoologist" (s.s., p. 1221), by 

 Mr. T. E. Gunn, of this city, in whose collection they still 

 remain, were in a perfectly fresh state when taken from 

 the nest (two only had been laid) on the 30th of March, 

 and were exhibited by him in the yelk at a meeting of 

 the Norwich Naturalist Society on the 6th of April. 

 From the labouring man, of whom they were purchased, 

 Mr. Gunn ascertained "that the old birds had been 

 observed for some time past in the vicinity of the broad, 

 and, from their appearance and manners, he suspected 

 they had nested or were preparing to do so." The nest 

 was composed of reeds and sticks. Of the genuineness 

 of these eggs, there can be no question, although the 

 rarity of the occurrence caused some doubts at the time. 

 In size they are, if anything, somewhat larger than the 

 generaUty of the eggs of this species, but one, as cor- 

 rectly stated by Mr. Gunn, " is a trifle bigger than the 

 other, and presents a beautiful oval form ; the other 

 tapers more at the ends, particularly at one end." Still, 



