222 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
in Suffolk, when they wrote “we cannot positively 
affirm that this species breeds here, though it seems 
probable that it sometimes does so, as five green sand- 
pipers were constantly found one summer near the old 
decoy at Levington, in Suffolk ;” and Mr. Salmon also 
appears to have been of the same opinion, as, in a paper 
“on the arrival of twenty-nine migratory birds near 
Thetford,” in Loudon’s “ Magazine of Natural History ” 
for 1836 (p. 524) he writes, “I have the following 
entries of disturbing this bird during the summer of 
1835—June 21st a single bird; July 19th a pair; July 
29th three pairs, all together; August 3rd a pair; and 
September 8th a small flock of several individuals; and 
during the present spring—April 15th, 20th, and 29th, 
and May 18th only a single bird at each time. Judging 
from these circumstances I suspect it breeds in our 
immediate neighbourhood.” In the same locality, too, 
Messrs. A. and E. Newton have often made similar 
observations, and have told me of a single bird which 
constantly, when flushed by the side of a pond, flew 
into a large and thick plantation of Scotch-firs. 
Such, then, as far as it goes, is all the evidence I can 
give bearing on this much debated and most interesting 
subject, but I have failed altogether to discover the 
grounds upon which Messrs. Gurney and Fisher have 
stated, with respect to this species, that “a few well 
authenticated instances of its breeding in Norfolk are 
on record.” Whether it does or does not, however, 
occasionally breed with us, the green sandpiper must be 
classed amongst our regular migrants, appearing singly 
or in pairs during April and May, and in small family 
groups, rarely exceeding six in number, on their return 
southwards at the end of July or beginning of August. 
An approximate idea of their proportionate numbers 
in every month of the year may, I think, be gathered 
from the following table of such specimens as I find 
