VOL. X.] ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FOR 1916 289 



Spoonbill {Platalea I. leucorodia) . 



The Yarmouth, or rather Breydon 8poonbills, have always 

 been a subject of much local interest, and as they have now 

 been protected by subscription for nineteen summers, it is 

 to be hoped that they begin to feel at home. Probably they 

 have been visitors to Breydon, or its marshes, for centuries ; 

 at any rate records go back to 1774, indeed there is nothing 

 impossible in the supposition that at the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century they were still breeders in its vicinity, 

 and came for their daily food to this large tidal Broad. 



It is very difficult to say exactly how many paid us a visit 

 this year, but about eight. Careful memoranda were as 

 usual kept by the watcher, from whose diary the following 

 extracts are taken : — 



Ma}' 16. Two Spoonbills and several Turnstones on the 

 flats, after a high wind (Force 5) from N.W. the 

 preceding evening. Next day they were gone. 



,, 22. N.W., 2. One Spoonbill, which stayed three days. 



,, 28. No wind, another Sj)oonbill, or the same one again. 



June 2. N., 3. A ver}' good Spoonbill came in in the 



night, but left again with a strong S.W. wind 



on the 4th, probablv for Cley, where one was seen 



on the 6th {cf. antea, p. 66). 



July 9. N.N.W., •• fresh." One Spoonbill. 



,, 13. Two more Spoonbills came in after a gale (Force 6) 

 from S.W., the preceding day. Jary notes of 

 one : "A very small bird, it must be a young 

 one, there are three here now." 



,, 19. N.W., 2. One Spoonbill, which stayed until 

 Ai;gvist 1st, on which da}' unfortunately the 

 Avatcher for lack of funds was withdrawn. 



In former years the direction of the wind was not thought 

 worth noting, but since the watcher has been enjoined to 

 put it down, we find that forty-four Spoonbills have been 

 registered as coming with a north-east wind, and fourteen 

 with a north-west. North is therefore the favoured direction 

 so far as Breydon is concerned, in the spring and summer, 

 and next after that west. At that time of the year, however, 

 the birds would hardly come from the north, and it is certain 

 the}' do not come from the west. 



Of one of these Spoonbills, that seen on July 9th, Mr. Jary 

 remarks " a very large bird," and in previous years the 

 difference in size has been noticed by him. I would ask if 

 this discrepancy has been observed elsewhere. The length 



