204 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
ments. To what cause, in particular, this may be 
attributed it is difficult to say, but it is by no means 
improbable that the increased persecution of gunners 
may render the old birds, when in company with their 
young broods of the year, more difficult of access, 
and also the fact that there is now much less ground 
suitable to them, owing to improved drainage. Be 
this as it may, it is evident that for the last eight or 
ten years, at least, the spotted redshank has appeared 
on our coast, with but few exceptions, during the vernal 
migration, and consequently the majority of birds 
obtained have exhibited, more or less, the distinctive 
characteristics of their breeding plumage.* 
Under the name of the Cambridge godwit, in Sir 
W. Hooker’s MS., I find the first notice of the 
occurrence of this species in Norfolk, a specimen shot 
near Yarmouth, on the 29th of October, 1818; and in 
Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear’s “Catalogue” (1824-5) 
it is thus mentioned, “ A bird of this species in autumn 
plumage, was killed at Yarmouth, and preserved by 
Mr. Youell. Another shot, near Ipswich, is now in 
the British Museum. Mr. Wigg, of Yarmouth, has 
also seen two other specimens which were shot near 
that town.” On the 22nd of September, 1828, Mr. 
Rising, of Horsey, killed three out of a flock of twenty- 
five which appeared in that neighbourhood; and in 
Hunt’s List, in 1829, under the name of the “ spotted 
snipe,” one specimen is said to have been procured at 
* Of the nesting habits of this species Mr. Hewitson (“ British 
Birds’ Eggs,” 3rd ed., vol. ii, p. 326), gives a most interesting 
description from the pen of the late Mr. Wolley, who discovered 
it in northern Lapland, breeding in the midst of the forests; and 
to quote his own words, “here is one of its most unexpected 
singularities—a marsh-bird choosing the driest possible situation, 
even hills of considerable height, and covered with forest timber.” 
