90 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



small pea, leaving a slight hollow completely bare of 

 feathers. The bird has not appeared to be otherwise 

 in ill health at the time, but the first tubercle was 

 usually followed by others. A curious white variety was 

 shot in this neighbourhood in 1854, having only two or 

 three brown feathers in the wings and tail ; and one 

 shot at Eaton, near Norwich, in December, 1862, was 

 also mottled with white on the upper parts of the 

 plumage, a rather unusual circumstance, as this species 

 is rarely subject to any variation in plumage. 



The Alpine accentor (Accentor alpinus) has not been 

 added to the Norfolk list; but Mr. Lubbock mentions 

 having seen one in 1824, on a grass-plot at Oulton, near 

 Lowestofb, and this, with Dr. Thackeray's specimen, 

 are probably the only instances known of the appear- 

 ance of this rare species in the eastern counties. 



ERYTHACA RUBECULA (Linnseus). 

 EEDBEEAST. 



Everywhere welcome and protected, and therefore 

 everywhere common, the history of the Robin in Nor- 

 folk, as in all other counties in England, is but a " twice 

 told tale." Resident with us throughout the year, each 

 garden and shrubbery in town and country, each fence 

 by the roadside, or in the open fields, has its pair of 

 Redbreasts, ever ready " to do battle" for their rights, 

 against all kindred intruders upon their prescribed 

 domain. In winter, drawing nearer to our homes, they 

 claim our sympathy, and with that bold confiding nature 

 which has won for them an almost sacred place in every 

 English heart, seek at our doors and windowsills the 

 proffered crumbs. Nor does our bright-eyed friend, 

 wander far from us in the summer months, though the 



