6 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



greatest number were in immature plumage, and were 

 met with on the coast or close by, in the vicinity of the 

 larger broads, whose wide tracts of open water are well 

 suited to their habits. Stragglers are, however, occa- 

 sionally found inland, in places far less likely for their 

 appearance, as at Scoulton, near Hingham ; at Stanfield 

 Park, near Wymondham ; and in October, 1859, four or 

 five were observed in the neighbourhood of Thetford. If 

 undisturbed, they seem to confine their fishing to one 

 spot as long as their finny prey remains plentiful, par- 

 ticularly in such favourite localities as Hickling and 

 Horsey broads. In April, 1851, three ospreys were 

 killed at Hickling in one week by the same man, who 

 shot them whilst perched on the posts which there mark 

 the course of the river through the broad, and in each 

 case the birds appeared to have been resting after a 

 rich repast, their stomachs being literally crammed with 

 roach. I have particularly mentioned this fact, having 

 since met with the following interesting note in the 

 "Ibis," by Mr. Osbert Salvin,* which proves that the 

 habit of resting after a meal so generally adopted by 

 the Raptorial tribe, is thus commonly, and often fatally, 

 indulged in by these piscatorial gluttons : " In the 

 lagoon of El Baheira, a number of posts are fixed to 

 direct the boats that ply between Tunis and La Goletta. 

 These are the favourite perches of several ospreys, 

 which, during the winter months, fish in the lagoon, 

 and retire to these posts to feed on and digest their 

 prey." 



* Mr. O. Salvin's " Five Months' Birds'-nesting in the Eastern 

 Atlas."" Ibis," vol. i., p. 183. 



