BIRD NOTES 105 



the beach (very seldom indeed is it seen on Breydon), 

 and then only odd birds are found, industriously 

 running along by the sea-margin, utterly indifferent 

 to the company of any other avine rambler. It is a 

 rare circumstance on our beach to find two together. 

 The Green Sandpiper (Totanus ochropus) and the 

 Phalaropes are also usually met with singly. 



STALKING A SPOONBILL 



The Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) almost in- 

 variably visits us in spring-time, seldom in winter. 

 And whereas, prior to the innovation of the Pro- 

 tection Acts, its appearance on Breydon meant an 

 immediate opening of hostilities, to-day, thanks to 

 the presence of a watcher, so long as it remains 

 in the vicinity of the mud flats its safety is 

 almost guaranteed. Unfortunately, odd birds will 

 occasionally straggle to the marshes, and there, 

 once marked down, a persistent visitation is almost 

 certain to end in disaster. Such an ending overtook 

 a Spoonbill on Burgh Marshes as recently as the 

 spring of 1902. In the Pagets 1 x " List," the Spoonbill 



1 Sketch ef the Natural History of Great Yarmouth, by C. J. and J. 

 Paget, 1834. 



