AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



Moisture seems to tire the birds far more than an 

 adverse wind. I myself noticed that the birds flew 

 in on that date with seemingly greater effort, and 

 unsteadier flight. A Rook alighting on the beach 

 at this time was seized by a stroller, and notwith- 

 standing its protests and struggles, brought to me in 

 a handkerchief. Placing him in an aviary, I supplied 

 him with a couple of boiled potatoes ; these he 

 readily ate, and then commenced to search for a 

 loophole of escape, evidently desirous of continuing 

 his journey. 



THE VALUE OF BIRDS 



When conversing with two veteran sportsmen 

 men whose names were, thirty and forty years ago, 

 identical, indeed almost synonymous, with Breydon 

 I was interested in the way they disposed of their 

 game, and in the prices made off it. In the 'fifties 

 and 'sixties a Bittern would make at a game dealer's 

 about two shillings; Avocets about four shillings 

 and sixpence; a Quail fetched a penny; a Wigeon 

 sixpence ; a Land-Dotterel, threepence ; and Hoopoes 

 four shillings apiece. 



That they obtained goodly numbers in those 

 "wild open" days goes without saying, or these 



