78 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
Dowell met with a small flock of from ten to twelve 
near the roadway leading on to the beach, at Blakeney, 
and five were sent up to Norwich from that neigh- 
bourhood during the same week. On the 9th of May, 
1857, asingle bird, just assuming its full plumage, was 
shot at East Ruston; and on the 10th of May, 1859, 
three males and one female were killed at Halvergate. 
Again, on the 9th of May, 1863, one old bird and three 
young of the previous year, were sent up to Norwich 
from Blakeney. A considerable number, according to 
Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, “were seen in May, 
1816, in the parts westward of Burnham,” near the 
coast, and Mr. Lubbock states that one or two have 
been killed so near Norwich as “the verge of Mousehold 
heath,” and that on one occasion, many years ago, a flock 
of fifty appeared in the parish of Eccles, of which a sports- 
man, who went in pursuit of them, obtained fourteen. 
In west Norfolk, however, the more open “ brecks” 
and warrens, from all time, and, of late years, the 
reclaimed portions of the “ fens” have presented, from 
their wild features, peculiar attractions for these passing 
migrants. “The mormellus or dotterel,’ writes Sir 
Thomas Browne, “about Thetford and the Champian, 
comes unto us in September and March, staying 
not long, and is an excellent dish.”* And in the 
very same locality, at the present time, although less 
numerous than in former years, Mr. Bartlett informs 
me that “with a fine April and a warm May,” a few 
“trips” are generally observed on his warren, sometimes 
* In the Northumberland “ Household Book” (Temp. Hen. viii.) 
dotterel were sold at one penny each, the same price as teal and 
woodcocks, whilst stints were only twopence per dozer In the 
Lord North “ Accounts,” also, for the Royal banquets at Kirtlinge 
(Temp. Elizabeth), viij doos and iij dotterel were supplied at 
vli. viijs. According to Yarrell, they fetch from seven to eight 
shillings a couple in the London market. 
