174 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



in the spring, had very nearly assumed its full summer 

 plumage. The gorget on the neck and the patches on 

 the cheeks are pure black, and the yellow portions are 

 very bright, with the horns clearly developed. It is some- 

 what remarkable, that almost every one of these birds, 

 obtained in Norfolk, from 1830 to the present time, 

 should have proved, on dissection, to be males ; and it is 

 also worthy of note, that all but two have occurred 

 during the winter months. On the 26th November, 

 1862, a male shore-lark, (in the collection of Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney, junr.), was killed at Lowestoft, in the adjoin- 

 ing county, and the man who shot it stated that 

 he had seen lots of snow-buntings, and a few had 

 yellow throats, which were no doubt shore-larks, 

 consorting with the more common species. The sub- 

 joined note in the " Field," by Mr. Fenwick Hele, 

 of Aldeburgh, (November 19th, 1864,) also shows how 

 easily these birds may be overlooked, and it is by no 

 means improbable that they may have visited us far 

 oftener than is generally supposed : — ^' On Thursday, 

 the 10th (November), I obtained a very rare bird at 

 Thorpe (Suffolk), namely, the shore-lark. It is a very 

 good male, with beautifully developed ears; it was in 

 company with another, I suppose its mate. Up to the 

 time of my picking up the specimen I had killed, I 

 quite believed them to be the common sky-lark, so 

 exactly did they resemble that bird both in colour and 

 gait. I was not sufficiently near to observe the very 

 pretty and curious markings about the chin and throat. 

 I was only led to shoot at them at all from a desire to 

 try my big duck gun at such small objects on the 

 ground ; you may therefore judge of my surprise, when 

 picking up the dead specimen, at my double stroke of 

 good luck — firstly, chancing to alight on such a rarity ; 

 and secondly, firing at it at all. The mate was very badly 

 hit, as a heap of feathers left on the spot where I had 



