NOTES FROM NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK. W 



Mr. Harward, jun., informed me (October 19th, 1885) thai a 

 Kobin with a white crown had frequented his garden at Bracon- 

 dale all the summer, and had mated with a bird of ordinary 

 plumage. A nest was built in some ivy, and a brood of young 

 were hatched which did not vary at all from the normal 

 plumage. 



A young hen Partridge was shot at Wells, on October 1st, 

 having the entire plumage sprinkled with white feathers. 



In the case of the Book I have seen buff, cream-coloured, 

 albino, and pied varieties, the last named by far the most 

 common. The most singular variety I have seen (shot at 

 Leiston, in Suffolk, in January, 1885) had the whole of the 

 plumage a mauve tint, deeper in colour on its head, neck, 

 breast, throat, thighs, and under parts generally. Irides pale 

 brown ; bill, legs, and feet deep brownish black. 



The Jackdaw is much less subject to variation than the 

 Book. Two piebald varieties only have come under my notice, 

 although I have heard of others both pied and white. On 

 November 11th, 1885, a chocolate-coloured Jackdaw was shot at 

 Middleton, near Lynn, and sent to me to preserve for the Lynn 

 Museum. It was a female bird, and had irides of a French 

 grey ; the back, upper wing coverts, crown of head, throat, and 

 under parts, are chocolate. The usual grey mask is in this 

 specimen of a slaty tint ; primaries sandy brown, tipped and 

 margined with grey ; secondaries and tail-feathers sandy brown, 

 with broader, greyish margins ; the bill, legs, toes, and claws, 

 dark chocolate. 



An adult female Waterhen, of piebald colour, was caught by 

 a fisherman in a marsh drain at Drayton, near Norwich, and 

 brought to me alive on December 5th, 1885. A peculiarity in 

 the colour of the irides of this bird was remarkable, one eye 

 being of a deep red, the other hazel. Mr. Booth tells me he has 

 seen a Great Crested Grebe which had eyes of different colours, a 

 peculiarity in bird life seldom noticed. 



The Waterhen, although so common in the eastern counties, 

 is subject to but little variation in colour. I have seen but two 

 piebald examples in addition to the two sandy ones already 

 recorded. 



Two very large Partridges, both cock birds, were killed in 

 October, 1885, weighing 19 and 19|- ounces, that is three or four 

 ounces heavier than usual. 



