38 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



The Spoonbills visiting Breydon in May and June 

 prefer a mid-morning or a mid-afternoon nap, and 

 invariably choose to sleep in the centre of a group 

 of gulls, and constantly standing on one leg. The 

 Spoonbill rarely drops to a sitting position upon the 

 mud flats. At four a.m. on 19th May 1881 Mr. B. 

 Dye rowed almost within gunshot of five ; four were 

 asleep, while one, apparently acting as sentry, seemed 

 more given to somnolency than wakefulness. It was 

 the more vigilant and mistrustful gulls surrounding 

 them that gave the alarm, and all flew away 

 together. I myself have noticed that Spoonbills are 

 always ready to take the gulls' hint without hesita- 

 tion ; and to their cautiousness, more than its own 

 suspicions, before the days of the close protection, 

 many a "Banjo Bill" owed his escape from certain 

 death. 



NIGHT IN THE REEDS 



Margining most of the Broads, fringing long 

 tracts by the riversides, and covering a large portion 

 of the marshlands, are thick growths of reeds. In 

 the snug and sheltered recesses of these mazy clumps 

 the Bearded Tit, the Reed-Bunting, and more than 

 one species of Warbler, build their nests and rear 



