BIRD NOTES 183 



postcard from Mr. J. H. Gurney, dated llth March, 

 he states: "The number of Little Auks for Nor- 

 folk is 278." Verily a big catastrophe to a little 

 species ! 



Nov. %. Observed some Snow - Buntings on 

 the marshes, feeding upon the shrivelled-up seeds 

 of the Michaelmas daisy (Aster tripolium). In 

 hard winters, when fairly large flocks frequent 

 the sand dunes, the hitherto buried seeds of semi- 

 marine plants, exposed by the very forces which 

 covered them with blown sands, afford this species, 

 with its cousins the Shore-Larks, and the rarer 

 Lapland Buntings, a sparse but no doubt satis- 

 factory supply of food. 



1896 



April 26. Hundreds of tired Swallows crowding 

 on the roof of a house near the beach; they had 

 evidently but just arrived on their northward 

 journey. 



June. Early in the month a Crested Grebe, 

 fishing around a boat, was caught on a hook by 

 an angler, as much to his own surprise as the 

 bird's. 



July 14. Saw Golden Plover on the Bure walls ; 

 my earliest autumnal record of the species. 



Aug. 6. Several Black-tailed Godwits, now rare 

 here, on Breydon. Formerly the species nested at 

 Horsey. 



Sept. 14. During the whole of two bleak still 

 nights (on this date and on 13th October) the 



