198 BIEDS OF NORFOLK. 



dead, at the foot of our lighthouses, amongst other 

 species previously mentioned. Varieties in plumage 

 are not often met with, but a pied specimen, in my 

 collection, netted near Norwich in February, 1862, has 

 the secondary quills in one wing, and the primaries in 

 the other white, slightly tinged with yellow ; and Mr. 

 T. E. G-unn, of this city, has also recorded in "The 

 Naturalist" ('Journal of the West Riding Naturalist's 

 Society), one example, having the back and wings light 

 reddish brown, with the throat, breast, and belly pale 

 sulphur yellow, and another entirely white ; both killed 

 in this neighbourhood. 



EMBERIZA CIRLUS, Linnaeus. 

 CIRL-BUNTING. 



This rare species was not included by Messrs. Gurney 

 and Fisher in their " Birds of Norfolk," but the appear- 

 ance of a single specimen in this county in November, 

 1849, was recorded by Mr. J. H. Gurney in the " Zoolo- 

 gist" (p. 2651), though neither the exact locality nor 

 sex is mentioned. A correspondent in the " Field" 

 (May 24, 1856) also states that a pair were killed in 

 Norfolk in December, 1855, one of which is said to 

 have come into the possession of the Earl of Leicester. 

 These are probably the only instances in which this 

 species has been identified as visiting our coast ; it is pro- 

 bable, however, that other examples may have occurred, 

 though passing unnoticed from their general resemblance 

 to the yellow bunting. 



Since the publication of my paper on the "Orni- 

 thology of Norfolk," in the third edition of White's 

 e( Directory," I have had good reason to doubt the 

 genuineness, as a local specimen, of the only Ortolan 



