BIRD NOTES 127 



grapes on her lap, which she was eating. A Sparrow 

 most audaciously flew upon her knee and seized a 

 grape with all the temerity of an old acquaintance. 

 It goes without saying it was not denied one. 



During my August holidays in 1903 I spent 

 most of my time in my houseboat, moored in a 

 " drain " in the centre of Breydon. During the 

 whole of that period, whenever the water fell, or 

 had not on the flood-tide reached the surface of the 

 flats, a second-year Black-headed Gull persisted in 

 keeping company with me ; pieces thrown out from 

 the table were gladly appropriated, and added 

 variety to the marine titbits gleaned up on the flat. 

 Nor did it choose to take fright at any demonstration 

 I might make. I never before met with an instance 

 where a Gull forced its company upon man's society, 

 although, when moored on Heigham Sounds in 1895, 

 a wild duck hung around for the sake of what I 

 chose to throw out. 



At the corner of the North Drain on Breydon a 

 Turnstone was busily engaged (on 21st August 1900) 

 turning over refuse and tangled bits of Zostera 

 marina in search of Sandhoppers. A small lot of 

 Dunlins and Ringed Plovers, also intent on a break- 

 fast, were profiting by its labours, and snapped up 



