b NOTES FROM NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK. 



parent birds weighing 8^ oz. and 10 oz. respectively, the three 

 young being 7f, 8, and 8 oz. Six ounces is said to be the 

 weight of this bird in a state of nature. The above is the weight 

 of the Hving birds as scaled by myself on the 31st of December. 

 A female adult bird (one of my odd onesi, having died on Nov. 

 24th, weighed 10 ozs. This, I believe, is the first occasion on 

 which this Little Owl has bred and successfully reared its young 

 to maturity in confinement in England. I hope to record some 

 further proceedings on the part of my pets in my next notes. 



In the stomach of an adult female Short-Eared Owl, killed 

 27th October, 1884, I found the feathers, bones, and other 

 remains of a young Thrush, including the gizzard, which, having 

 been swallowed whole, was unaffected by the gastric juice. On 

 October 29th I received four Long-Eared Owls, three males and 

 a female; the former weighed respectively 8 oz. 8 dr., 8 oz. 

 10 dr., and 9 oz. ; the female, 10 oz. Two of their stomachs 

 were crammed with the bones and fur of Field Voles; in that of 

 another were portions of the skulls of seven Voles, and a mass 

 of refuse sufiicient to form nearly a dozen pellets of the size 

 usually cast up. 



An immature female Black Redstart, killed at Blakeney 22nd 

 October, 1884, weighed 4 dr. The food had consisted of small 

 beetles. 



On September 17th, 1884, a male specimen of the Great 

 Snipe was shot near Stalham, and, although exceedingly fat, 

 weighed but G^ ozs. The gullet contained half a lobworm, and 

 in the stomach I found four or five small white worms. 



A Grey Phalarope was killed at Burgh St. Peter, in Great 

 Yarmouth, on October 30th. Its stomach contained some small 

 pebbles, two univalve shells, remains of a fly, and some vege- 

 table refuse, including two pips not unlike those of the ordinary 

 raisin, but much smaller. 



At 6 a.m. on October 9th I took a walk on the Yarmouth 

 Denes from Caistor to the Harbour's mouth. Large flocks of 

 Twites were continually passing during the whole morning, 

 sometimes alighting to feed on the seeds of various grasses and 

 plants growing on the sandy soil ; large numbers of Sky Larks, 

 Meadow Pipits, and Starlings, were also constantly moving 

 southwards. The local birdcatchers were apparently out in full 

 force, and netted a great number of birds, principally Meadow 



