A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



1 89 1 the present writer classed the oyster- 

 catcher with the extinct breeders, but on 3 

 June, 1893, the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain 

 found a nest on the Suffolk coast with three 

 eggs just hatching, and on 5 June saw a pair 

 evidently breeding on one of the rivers, add- 

 ing that in 1894 they were certainly breeding 

 again on the shore, and that a boy told him 

 he had more than once found the nest of the 

 ' olive,' as he called it (F. C. R. J. in litt.). 

 This is an interesting case of birds returning 

 to old breeding grounds, and this handsome 

 species may perhaps be described as a resident 

 though very scarce and local. 



206. Avocet. Recurv'irostra avocetta, Linn. 



This bird has been extinct as a breeder in 

 the British Islands for more than half a cen- 

 tury, but Mr. Hele was able to write in 1870, 

 ' I have been informed by a trustworthy old 

 gunner since dead that he could distinctly 

 remember this species, called by the local 

 name of the awl-bird, breeding not infre- 

 quently in the mere-lands at Thorpe.' The 

 death of the informant must have taken place 

 some time between 1859 and 1870, and he 

 might have been a bird-nesting boy at any 

 time between 1800 and 1820, so it seems 

 reasonable to believe that the avocet continued 

 to breed in Suffolk as long as it did in Norfolk, 

 where it is known to have bred till about 

 1822 or 1824. There could hardly have 

 been a place in England better suited to its 

 habits than the mere and fen at Thorpe 

 before the railway was made and when all 

 the district was quiet, but there were probably 

 other places both north and south of Thorpe 

 in which it bred. Mr. T. M. Spalding about 

 1846 wrote of the avocet, 'Now very rare; 

 has been killed at Orford and Easton Broad.' 

 The avocets which bred in Suffolk were 

 undoubtedly summer migrants, and when any 

 occur now they usually appear in spring. A 

 pair visited the old haunts at Thorpe in April, 

 1878, of which the hen was shot, and on 4 

 May, 1887, five out of a flock of six were 

 shot on Breydon, where they now have the 

 benefit of careful protection. 



207. Black-winged Stilt. Himantopui candidus, 



Bonnaterre. 



There is a rather ancient specimen of this 

 bird in the Bury Museum (Dennis collection) 

 said to have been ' shot at Orford but not 

 known in what year.' Mr. Dennis was so 

 careful to preserve full ' data ' of the birds he 

 stuffed that such a rare bird would have all 

 particulars affixed to the case, and he probably 

 bought it already mounted. In the Zoologist 



for 1875 (p. 4634) Mr. Stevenson records one 

 shot in July of that year on Outney Common 

 near Bungay, and if the locality is correct 

 this bird was killed just within the Suffolk 

 boundary. Dr. Babington mentions one or 

 two more shot ' at Yarmouth ' or ' on Brey- 

 don ' many years ago [Catalogue, p. 239). 



208. Grey Phalarope. Phalaropus fulicarius 



(Linn.) 



Not very uncommon on the coast as an 

 autumnal visitant, but never met with on its 

 northward journey in spring. In winter 

 plumage it rather resembles the sanderling at 

 the same season, but is easily recognized by 

 the lobed membranes of the feet. 



209. Red-necked Phalarope. Phalaropus hyper- 



boreus (Linn.) 



Though this species breeds in Orkney and 

 Shetland, and the nearest breeding grounds of 

 the grey phalarope are in Iceland, it is much 

 the rarer of the two in Suffolk, and years 

 often pass without its occurrence. Mr. Hele 

 had to wait twenty years before a specimen 

 came into his hands. 



210. Woodcock. Scohpax rusticula, Linn. 

 A woodcock's nest in Suffolk is quite a rare 



thing, but Dr. Babington [Catalogue, p. 146) 

 mentions ten places where it is believed to 

 have bred once at least. To these may be 

 added Monk's Wood at Bradfield, where four 

 young ones were hatched early in April, 

 1897, and three eggs taken in the follow'ng 

 year, and Rattlesden, where there was a nest 

 with four eggs in 1900. But the bird is 

 practically a winter migrant, arriving about 

 the middle of October. In October, 1865, 

 one struck the weather-vane on St. Mary's 

 Church at Bury and was picked up under 

 the tower with the neck torn open. Wood- 

 cocks have been seen at Aldeburgh on 

 several occasions coming in over the sea, 

 usually directly against the wind, and after 

 the fatiguing effort of the migration flight 

 have been known to drop into gardens or even 

 on the bare shingle under cover of a fishing- 

 boat (Hele). In Suffolk as elsewhere they 

 vary a good deal in colour and size, and a 

 small red bird shot at Tostock in December, 

 1893 (rectory collection) weighed barely 

 10 oz., while a large dark specimen will often 

 run up to 13 oz. or more. The woodcock 

 usually rises in silence, but one flushed at 

 Tostock on 17 March, 1894, uttered aery 

 like ' cack-cack-cack.^ It is an early breeder 

 and even in Scotland often has eggs in March. 



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