BIRD NOTES 187 



amongst them the bright green speculum on the 

 wing being most noticeable. 



March 23. Wind north-east; gale diminished. 

 Strolling by the North Beach, I was vexed at seeing 

 the destruction of sand dune by the recent high tides. 

 Found quite a number of dead Rooks, several 

 Starlings, all probably northward-bound migrants, 

 and sprinkled here and there were dead Guillemots, 

 Little Auks, and some Puffins. 



April 21. I have at length come to a satis- 

 factory conclusion with regard to the frequent visits 

 of town Pigeons to Breydon mud flats : the object of 

 their search appears to be the empty shells of the little 

 mollusc known as Hydrobia ulvce. This takes place 

 in the finer months, the lime and saline matter com- 

 bined being as healthful to the birds as necessary. 

 I do not think that the living mollusc is overlooked. 



April 27. Twelve Spoonbills on Breydon; and 

 five more joined them next day, remaining for some 

 hours. 



May 16. After a little cautious manoeuvring I 

 got fairly close to a flock of ten Gadwalls (Anas 

 streperd) on Breydon. It was a bitterly cold day, 

 but the sight of these and two Spoonbills amply 

 compensated for any discomfort. The " Spoonies " 

 fell in with many " penny-sized " flounders, but could 

 not swallow them. The attendant gulls did this for 

 them, snatching them away in a very ludicrous way. 



July 21. Rowing around Breydon to-day I fell 

 in with three Curlew-Sandpipers, two Spoonbills, a 

 Caspian Tern, and a Sandwich Tern. The latter 



