BIRD NOTES 181 



I was shown one (alive) of a uniform cream colour, 

 thus making with a third I saw at Ormesby, of a 

 buff tint three oddly coloured examples in the 

 space of a few days. On 10th July a live cream- 

 coloured Blackbird was shown me. 



June 7. Two flocks of Starlings on the Breydon 

 marshes. There were fifty in each bunch; they 

 joined forces and wheeled in aerial evolutions, just 

 as the larger flocks do in late autumn. Without 

 a doubt these unpaired and unusually late flocks 

 were the late-hatched young of a preceding autumn. 

 Their plumage was adult. 



June 26. Obtained a live Oyster-catcher from 

 a fishing-smack. 



July 31. An early arrival of migratory Hooded 

 Crows. Seven appeared on the North River 

 marshes. My earliest record of this bird's appear- 

 ance is 22nd June 1896. 



July 31. A great number of some species of 

 diptera floated along the surface of the river Bure ; 

 they had probably been blown into the water, and 

 in long black lines were driven downstream. Some 

 Swallows repeatedly dipped at them, hitting the 

 water with their breasts as they seized the insects, 

 and then, as if helped by the impetus, in curving 

 flight rose on the wing again. Some of the birds 

 snapped at insects that flew up from the rond, as 

 my feet brushed the grass, and the smart " twick " 

 of their mandibles that followed the seizure of a 

 victim was distinctly heard over and over again. 



Sept. 3. On this date I saw a Swallow 



