214 



BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



some poor retainer. The colour of the beak in this 

 species, as in some others, changes with the season, 

 being horn-coloured in winter, and jet black in summer. 

 White and pied varieties are not unfrequently met with, 

 as shown by the specimens in the Norwich Museum. 



COCCOTHRAUSTES VULGARIS, Stephens. 

 HAWFINCH. 



With a bird so difficult of observation as the Haw- 

 finch, from its excessive shyness, it is not easy to 

 determine whether the frequent discovery of its nests, 

 of late years, in this and other counties in England, is 

 owing to a change in its habits, or the more careful 

 researches of modern naturalists. Messrs. Gurney and 

 Fisher, in 1846, describe it as " a rare bird in Norfolk, 

 and, we believe, only occurs as an irregular migrant." 

 Yet Sir Thomas Browne, evidently referring to this 

 species, speaks of it as " a kind of coccothraustes, called 

 a coble bird, bigger than a thrush, finely coloured, and 

 shaped like a bunting. It is chiefly seen in summer 

 about cherry time ;" from which it would seem that, in 

 those days at least, it was not uncommon, and from the 

 season in which it was chiefly observed probably bred in 

 the county. That it does so now there is no doubt, and 

 with sufficient regularity to be classed as a resident, 

 whilst, as certainly, migratory specimens visit us during 

 the winter months, in some seasons appearing in con- 

 siderable numbers. For the last ten years I have never 

 known an autumn or winter pass without some examples 

 being brought in to our bird-stuffers for preservation, 

 the dates of their appearance extending from the middle 

 of November to the beginning of the following April. 

 A large flight which visited Yarmouth during severe 



