224 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
were frozen over, more green sandpipers were brought 
to our birdstuffers between the Ist of December and 
the 18th of the following January, than in any previous 
twelve months. All that I then handled were in excel- 
lent condition. 
It should be here remarked, too, that since I com- 
menced my ornithological notes in 1850, the past year 
(1868) is the first in which I find no record of the 
occurrence of this species, proving, at least, that if not 
entirely absent they were unusually scarce; and I cannot 
help agreeing with Mr. F. D. Power, who, in his notes 
from Rainham in Kent, and its neighbourhood, in the 
“ Zoologist” (s. s., p. 1498) also mentions the extreme 
scarcity of this species in 1868 as compared with their 
numbers in the previous year, that this is probably 
attributable to the severe drought and “the drying up 
of the ditches during the summer.” 
Provincially this bird is known as the “ Summer 
Snipe,” a term also applied to the common sandpiper 
(Totanus hypoleucus) and the ‘ Martin-Snipe,” a name 
probably derived from the base of the tail feathers and the 
tail coverts being pure white, forming a marked feature 
as it takes wing, and giving the bird somewhat the ap- 
pearance of the house-martin. At the time of its vernal 
and autumnal migration examples are occasionally met 
with on the coast or in the adjacent marshes, both salt 
and fresh water, but as a rule its haunts are more inland 
than by the sea, and though pretty generally distributed, 
it exhibits a marked preference for the black peaty soil 
which characterises the low grounds to the south and 
south-west of the county. Thus at Hapton, Flordon, 
and Forncett, in certain favourite spots, one or more 
are almost sure to be met with in any season, as well 
as on that small chain of fens, which are situated on 
the river Thet, near Hargham, Buckenham, and Attle- 
borough. In the immediate neighbourhood of Norwich 
