59 



throats and the spatula shaped extremities of their bills were 

 bright yellow, and the irides rich crimson. The finest of these 

 two specimens was probably three or four years old if not more, 

 and the other not less two years. I have also seen at Sayer's a 

 third specimen, killed about ten days back on Hickling Broad, 

 Norfolk, also a female, which is no doubt a bird of last year, 

 being pure white, with scarcely any perceptible crest. The 

 Spoonbill is by no means a rare visitant on either the Norfolk or 

 Suffolk coasts, one or two examples being procured nearly every 

 year on their spring or autumn migrations, but more especially 

 in the months of May and June. In this country, of course, the 

 Breydon muds have peculiar attractions, and the Salthouse district 

 has also produced a large proportion of the specimens obtained ; 

 and even since the drainage of those noted salt-marshes, they still 

 resort to the brackish waters which there run parallel with the 

 beach beyond the high sea banks. It is now many years since 

 Spoonbills ceased to breed in our marshes, yet from their late ap- 

 pearance at times, and being occasionally found in " pairs,"* there 

 is little doubt that if undisturbed they would in some cases do so 

 even now. The high prices, however, offered for all rare local 

 specimens, and the cheapness of fire-arms as a means of securing 

 them, render it next to impossible for any bird more than usually 

 conspicuous to escape instant destruction on our inhospitable 

 shores. Sir Thos. Browne, writing some 300 years ago informs 

 us that "they formerly built in the heronry at Claxton, near 

 Readham, now at Trimley in Suffolk. They come in March and 

 are shot by fowlers, not for the meat but their handsomeness, 

 remarkable in their white colour, copped crown, and spoon or 

 spatula-like bill." There is also an old record, quoted by the 

 Messrs. Paget [" Sketch of the Natural History of Yarmouth 

 and its Neighbourhood," by C. J. and James Paget, 1834], to 

 the effect that " a flock of these birds migrated into the marshes 

 near Yarmouth in April 1774." HENRY STEVEXSON, (Norwich). 



* Has it been proved these "pairs" are ever male and female? More 

 probably they are wandering birds having no intention to breed at the places 

 they are met with. C, M. A. 



