322 BIEDS OF NORFOLK. 



frozen out, and even sucli birds as remained in 

 our fields and hedgerows were dying from cold and 

 hunger, some of the weightiest snipes I ever handled 

 were killed near a spring head in an inland situation. 

 In the neighbourhood of Norwich the low meadows at 

 Thorpe, Lakenham, Cringleford, Earlham, Bowthorpe, 

 and other places, are all more or less likely under such 

 circumstances ; although too much drained to afford at 

 other times, the sport which in former years could be 

 had there throughout the season.* The wet commons 

 before mentioned, as well as the marshes bordering on 

 the coast, both salt and fresh water, are also much 

 frequented during the first day or two of frost. In the 

 first week of December, 1862, during severe weather, an 

 immense number of snipes were found scattered over the 

 county, and in somewhat unusual localities. f Seventeen 

 couj^les and a half were killed off the "ronds"J only on 



* Daniel, in his "Rural Sports" (vol iii., p. 178), gives some 

 interesting observations by a Norfolk gentleman " upon the times 

 of the snipe's appearance in the vicinity of Norwich," both in 

 spring and autumn ; and in these notes made in the years 1800 

 and 1801, Moushold-heath is mentioned as a locality frequented 

 by them. Even within the last forty or fifty years good suipe- 

 shooting could be had, about Trowse and Lakenham, close to the 

 city, the winding course of the Tare presenting many tempting 

 spots for these birds in the various islets, osier-carrs, and reed- 

 beds, whilst the surrounding meadows were not then " too good." 

 Yet here — except in frosty weather, when I have killed three or 

 four couples in a morning out of the marsh drains, a snipe is rarely 

 seen at the present time. 



t In his " Ornithological Notes from the Scilly Islands," 

 " Zoologist," 1865 (p. 9452), Mr. E. H. Eodd describes the snipes 

 during frost and snow, as "feeding with the poultry in front of 

 the drawing room window, * * * and it was a pretty sight 

 to see an old turkey cock pursue a snipe by the Abbey Pool." 



J These wide and swampy margins to the river (called in the 

 western part of the county " washes"), lying between the water's 

 edge and the raised bank which protects the adjoining lands 



