BIRD NOTES 81 



June, when a higher tide than usual washed them 

 entirely off the flat. I saw them afterwards seem- 

 ingly disconsolately feeding and hovering in the 

 neighbourhood, having, apparently, become con- 

 vinced that this was the end of the spring house- 

 keeping, and that they had made a mess of it ! 



My attention was attracted one day in December 

 1890 by the strange rotary flight of a Rook : in a 

 most agitated fashion it mounted spirally to some 

 distance. I covered it with my glasses, and saw 

 presently a crab fall from it into a heap of furze 

 below, to the very apparent relief of the bird, which 

 shook itself and most gladly made off inland. It 

 had undoubtedly pounced down upon the stranded 

 crab, thinking to make an easy meal of it, but had 

 instead tackled a very lively tartar indeed. The 

 crustacean, as far as I could see, had grasped the 

 Rook by the neck in one of its pincer claws. 



A large Gull and a Heron were seen engaged in a 

 regular combat on Breydon mud flats ; the latter, who 

 had secured an eel weighing a pound and a half, 

 bravely warded off its antagonist, which now and 

 then plucked tufts of feathers out of it. A gunner 

 drawing up unobserved, settled the dispute by shoot- 

 ing both birds. He secured the eel as well. The 



