224 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



were frozen over, more green sandpipers were brought 

 to our birdstuffers between the 1st of December and 

 the 18th of the following January, than in any previous 

 twelve months. All that I then handled were in excel- 

 lent condition. 



It should be here remarked, too, that since I com- 

 menced my ornithological notes in 1850, the past year 

 (1868) is the first in which I find no record of the 

 occurrence of this species, proving, at least, that if not 

 entirely absent they were unusually scarce; and I cannot 

 help agreeing with Mr. F. D. Power, who, in his notes 

 from Rainham in Kent, and its neighbourhood, in the 

 " Zoologist " (s. s., p. 1498) also mentions the extreme 

 scarcity of this species in 1868 as compared with their 

 numbers in the previous year, that this is probably 

 attributable to the severe drought and ^'the drying up 

 of the ditches during the summer." 



Provincially this bird is known as the " Summer 

 Snipe," a term also applied to the common sandpiper 

 (Totanus hypoleucusj and the ^^Martin-Snipe," a name 

 probably derived from the base of the tail feathers and the 

 tail coverts being pure white, forming a marked feature 

 as it takes wing, and giving the bird somewhat the ap- 

 pearance of the house-martin. At the time of its vernal 

 and autumnal migration examples are occasionally met 

 with on the coast or in the adjacent marshes, both salt 

 and fi*esh water, but as a rule its haunts are more inland 

 than by the sea, and though pretty generally distributed, 

 it exhibits a marked preference for the black peaty soil 

 which characterises the low grounds to the south and 

 south-west of the county. Thus at Hapton, Flordon, 

 and Forncett, in certain favourite spots, one or more 

 are almost sure to be met with in any season, as well 

 as on that small chain of fens, which are situated on 

 the river Thet, near Hargham, Buckenham, and Attle- 

 borough. In the immediate neighbourhood of Norwich 



