156 ' BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
MS. notes as shot at Oulton, near Lowestoft, in May 
of that year, whilst the third, said to have been shot 
at Barnaby to which no date is attached by the Messrs. 
Paget, is no doubt the adult male which, as I learn 
from Mr. Joseph Clarke, was shot near Yarmouth in 
1833, and formed part of Mr. Miller’s collection. Dr. 
Diamond, of Twickenham, the fortunate owner of the 
Norfolk little egret, also informs me that he has two 
little bitterns, killed near Bawdeswell, in this county, 
which were purchased and sent to him by his friend, 
the late Mr. R. Stoughton, of Sparham, somewhere 
about the year 1854. 
To Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., I am indebted for the 
following extract from a letter addressed to Mr. Henry 
Doubleday, of Epping, by the late Mr. Heysham, and 
dated Carlisle, September 25th, 1839 :— From a letter 
which I received a day or two ago from a friend* in 
Norfolk. * * * JI find that a very fine pair 
of adult little bitterns were killed at or near South 
Walsham, about two months ago. It is generally 
supposed that these birds had a nest when captured.” 
Mr. Yarrell also records this pair on Mr. Heysham’s 
authority ; and, as Mr. Gurney (in whose possession 
they still remain) informs me, they were killed by the 
marshman [Samuel Ebbage], who then had the care of 
South Walsham broad; the man, I believe, who killed 
on the same broad the pair of Savi’s warblers, in the 
Norwich Museum. By him they were sold in the flesh 
to Mr. G. Johnson, then a birdstuffer, in Norwich, and 
it was from Ebbage’s statement to Johnson that the 
birds were supposed to have had a nest. A male bird, 
also, in Mr. J. H. Gurney’s collection, and formerly 
belonging to the late Mr. Thurtell, of Eaton, was said 
* The friend here alluded to was no doubt Mr. J. H. Gurney, 
senior, at that time in frequent correspondence with Mr. Heysham. 
