236 BIEDS OF NORFOLK. 



drawing of a genuine egg of this bird, obtained in 

 Sutherlandshire by Sir W. M. E. Milner.* The general 

 colour and markings of Mr. Smith's eggs agreed 

 with the drawing, although they differed somewhat in 

 form,, being " less elongated." But it must be remem- 

 bered that Sir William's specimen was the result of a 

 Caesarian operation, and had probably not received its 

 full colouring. Indeed, Mr. A. Newton tells me that 

 he also saw the drawing, of which he now possesses a 

 fac simile, and that it was so unlike the normal egg of 

 the species that no correct opinion could possibly be 

 formed from it. Beyond the statement, then, that 

 there appeared to be no other species to which these 

 eggs could be referred, no satisfactory conclusion was 

 arrived at; and I also remember in 1853 being shown 

 two fresh eggs, said to have been found in the marshes 

 near Yarmouth, which answered very nearly to the 

 description of the eggs of the greenshaiik as given by 

 Macgillivray. These, I believe, passed into Mr. J. 

 H. Gurney's possession, but were never satisfactorily 

 identified. 



Of some dozen examples recorded in my own notes, 

 I find about equal numbers were killed in spring 

 and autumn, the dates at the former period varying 

 between the 8th and 19th of May, and at the latter 

 between the 2nd of August and the 16th of September, f 

 I have never known this bird to appear even as a 

 straggler during the winter months, but Mr. Dowell 

 observed it at Blakeney in 1848, in the early part of 

 October ; and in 1853, saw a single bird at the "freshes" 

 as early as the 25th of July. 



* See " Zoologist," 1848, pp. 2014 and 2024. 



f Mr. A. C. Kennedy in "Land and "Water" (September 21st, 

 1867) states that on the llth of September, 1867, " a fisherman 

 shot three specimens of the greenshank on the river Aide, Aide- 

 burgh, Suffolk." 



