GREENSHANK. 235 



As exceptions to this rule may be mentioned a single 

 bird killed by Mr. Newcome, near the river at 

 Feltwell, during the first week of September, 1860; 

 and another recorded by Mr. T. E. Gunn, in the 

 "Zoologist" (p. 9290), as " shot in a meadow adjoining 

 the river below Hellesdon mills, about three miles 

 north-west of Norwich." This proved to be an adult 

 male. A female killed on the 12th of May, 1864, 

 contained a considerable cluster of eggs, of which some 

 were as large as hempseeds. Mr. F. Harmer, of 

 Yarmouth, in recording"^ the fact of two pair having 

 been killed on Breydon, in May, 1862, says, "three 

 were killed at a shot with a punt gun, on the flats 

 above mentioned, the other singly ; I have killed them 

 two and three at a shot in the same manner, but of 

 late years their numbers have been few during the 

 spring migration ; eight is the most I have seen 

 together on the ^ muds' at one time." From Mr. 

 Lubbock's account, also, there is little doubt that the 

 greenshank may be considered a scarce visitant now 

 in comparison with former times, as he states that in 

 August " these birds used to frequent the marshes by 

 day, and come down to wash themselves at the gravelly 

 margins of the broad [Hickling] in the evening, 

 when their cry was very singular and melodious." 

 There seems no reason, however, to suppose that this 

 species was at any time a resident in this county, 

 although on more than one occasion eggs resembling 

 those of the greenshank have been fo and in our marshes. 

 In the "Zoologist" for 1848 (p. 2147) Mr. W. E. 

 Fisher expressed his belief that three eggs then in the 

 collection of Mr. J. Smith, of Yarmouth, and "taken 

 some years since in the Norfolk marshes," were those 

 of the greenshank, having compared them with a 



. * See " Field," 1862, vol. xix„ p. 494. 

 2h 2 



