COMMON BITTERN. 17k 
with on those broads, such as Surlingham and Rockland, 
which lie parallel with the course of the Yare. In 
the neighbourhood of Lynn they are in some seasons 
extremely plentiful, and specimens have been shot at 
times from the reed-beds on the Cley and Blakeney 
marshes. Amongst other localities, also, where chance 
stragglers have been met with, some of them at a 
considerable distance from the coast, may be mentioned 
Lakenham and Saxlingham near Norwich; Attle- 
borough, Merton, and Briston; Gunton, Sherringham, 
and Beeston, near Cromer; and the Hempstead ponds, 
near Holt. 
Of this number it will be seen by the subjoined 
table the chief bulk have appeared in mid-winter during, 
or immediately preceding, severe weather; and of late 
years, the winters of 1853-54, 1854-55, and 1859-60, 
and still more recently of 1861-62, 1863-64, and 
1866-67, have been remarkable for the number of these 
migrants killed in different parts of the county. No less 
than six were brought into Norwich for preservation, in 
one week, in January, 1864. I find but two or three 
autumnal stragglers recorded in my notes, all in the 
month of October, and of those killed in February and 
March, there can be little doubt that some, if undis- 
turbed, would have remained to breed; whilst the one 
purchased in a perfectly fresh state in our market, on 
the 38rd of April, may even have had a nest at the 
time :-— 
BICGODEN! f3tis sctetheadenteemaes 3 82 
November .c<cssancecsumasayes 8 WG DGUaIAy ys casiinise sedeneieasees aos 15 
December) 2 f.cccdasasseasiaenes 30 NBR Hier aint vecinde oneesatnadesss 10 
DANUMATY: 5.0.02 <dseceeseccaeesses 36 PAC or TOM rasiicaes: sce ndaanceneee di 
82 Potally sivecseet 108 
The difference in size of certain specimens is very 
marked, which, according to Montagu and _ other 
authors, is a sexual distinction, the females being 
z 2 
