222 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



in Suffolk, when they wrote "we cannot positively 

 affirm that this species breeds here, though it seems 

 probable that it sometimes does so, as five green sand- 

 pipers were constantly found one summer near the old 

 decoy at Levington, in Suffolk ;" and Mr. Salmon also 

 appears to have been of the same opinion, as, in a paper 

 "on the arrival of twenty-nine migratory birds near 

 Thetford," in London's " Magazine of Natural History " 

 for 1836 (p. 524) he writes, "I have the following 

 entries of disturbing this bird during the summer of 

 1835 June 21st a single bird ; July 19th a pair ; July 

 29th three pairs, all together; August 3rd a pair; and 

 September 8th a small flock of several individuals ; and 

 during the present spring April 15th, 20th, and 29th, 

 and May 18th only a single bird at each time. Judging 

 from these circumstances I suspect it breeds in our 

 immediate neighbourhood." In the same locality, too, 

 Messrs. A. and E. Newton have often made similar 

 observations, and have told me of a single bird which 

 constantly, when flushed by the side of a pond, flew 

 into a large and thick plantation of Scotch-firs. 



Such, then, as far as it goes, is all the evidence I can 

 give bearing on this much debated and most interesting 

 subject, but I have failed altogether to discover the 

 grounds upon which Messrs. Gurney and Fisher have 

 stated, with respect to this species, that "a few well 

 authenticated instances of its breeding in Norfolk are 

 on record." Whether it does or does not, however, 

 occasionally breed with us, the green sandpiper must be 

 classed amongst our regular migrants, appearing singly 

 or in pairs during April and May, and in small family 

 groups, rarely exceeding six in number, on their return 

 southwards at the end of July or beginning of August. 



An approximate idea of their proportionate numbers 

 in every month of the year may, I think, be gathered 

 from the following table of such specimens as I find 



