GREENSHANK. 235 
As exceptions to this rule may be mentioned a single 
bird killed by Mr. Newcome, near the river at 
Feltwell, during the first week of September, 1860; 
and another recorded by Mr. T. EH. Gunn, in the 
“ Zoologist” (p. 9290), as “ shot in a meadow adjoining 
the river below Hellesdon mills, about three miles 
north-west of Norwich.” This proved to be an adult 
male. A female killed on the 12th of May, 1864, 
contained a considerable cluster of eggs, of which some 
were as large as hempseeds. Mr. F. Harmer, of 
Yarmouth, in recording* the fact of two pair having 
been killed on Breydon, in May, 1862, says, “three 
were killed at a shot with a punt gun, on the flats 
above mentioned, the other singly; I have killed them 
two and three at a shot in the same manner, but of 
late years their numbers have been few during the 
spring migration; eight is the most I have seen 
together on the ‘muds’ at one time.” From Mr. 
Lubbock’s account, also, there is little doubt that the 
ereenshank may be considered a scarce visitant now 
in comparison with former times, as he states that in 
August “these birds used to frequent the marshes by 
day, and come down to wash themselves at the gravelly 
margins of the broad [Hickling] in the evening, 
when their cry was very singular and melodious.” 
There seems no reason, however, to suppose that this 
species was at any time a resident in this county, 
although on more than one occasion eggs resembling 
those of the greenshank have been found in our marshes. 
In the “ Zoologist” for 1848 (p. 2147) Mr. W. R. 
Fisher expressed his belief that three eggs then in the 
collection of Mr. J. Smith, of Yarmouth, and “taken 
some years since in the Norfolk marshes,” were those 
of the greenshank, having compared them with a 
* See “ Field,” 1862, vol. xix,, p. 494. 
2H 2 
