70 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
proof either in our own or earlier times, although strag- 
elers may be seen in every month of the year, and Sir 
Thomas Browne particularly remarks of this species, 
“they breed not with us, but in some parts of Scotland, 
and plentifully in Iceland.’’* 
Mr. Lubbock states that a pair seen on Thorpe 
common, on the 26th of April, 1823, were in the nuptial 
plumage, and the female when shot was forward in egg ; 
a few also exhibited in our fishmarket for sale on the 5th 
of April, 1855, were all, more or less, in a state of change. 
On the 15th of May, 1856, a single bird, in full summer 
plumage, was brought in to one of our birdstuffers; and 
on the same day, as I find by my notes at the time, a 
couple of land-rails and a nest of nightingale’s eggs; 
but a still later date is given by Messrs. Gurney and 
Fisher, who have known this species to be Killed in 
Norfolk on the 25th of May. Such cases are, however, 
quite exceptional, but as regards those which may be 
said to have wintered in Norfolk, the northward move- 
ment takes place for the most part in April, whilst 
others from more southern quarters appear in May, 
with the knots and godwits, and, according to the pre- 
valent winds at the time, are met with for longer or 
shorter periods by the Breydon gunners. 
There is one point connected with the migratory 
movements of this species, which would seem, until 
very recently, to have escaped the notice of British 
ornithologists—it is their whistling by night over our 
cities and towns, when attracted by the glare of the 
lamps on their nocturnal passage. The very early 
autumnal migration of these birds is thus clearly indi- 
cated in some seasons, as well as fresh arrivals during 
* In Wilkin’s edition of Sir Thomas Browne’s works, vol. iv., 
p- 319, the word “Iceland” occurs in this passage, but it is no 
doubt a misprint for Ireland. 
