48 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



occasion feeding close in shore off Holme Point, near 

 Hunstanton; and another lot of seven frequented the 

 entrance to Heacham creek. On the 12th several ap- 

 peared off the Sherringham beach, passing along the 

 coast ; and on the same day, far inland, a considerable 

 number were both heard and seen passing over the town 

 of Wymondham, near Norwich. Several made their 

 appearance on the smaller streams in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of this city; and about the same time 

 I heard of a night, of which sixty are said to have been 

 counted, that passed over the town of Aylsham, some 

 ten miles from the sea. At Yarmouth, on the 18th, a 

 "herd" of eighteen settled on Breydon water, but escaped 

 from the gunners and, strange to say, with the excep- 

 tion of a fine adult bird shot on the lake at Kimberley, 

 on the 20th of January, none appeared for sale in the 

 Norwich Market or in the shops of our bird-stuffers till 

 early in the following month. From the 6th to the 10th 

 of February the weather was warm and sunny, but only 

 to be followed by more snow and a biting wind frost, 

 far more trying to fowl of all kinds than anything pre- 

 viously experienced ; whilst a terrific gale on the 10th, 

 with blinding snow storms, strewed our eastern coast 

 with wrecks, and compelled shore birds of all descrip- 

 tions to take shelter inland. During this month several 

 whoopers were killed on Breydon, many more along 

 the shores of the Wash, and others inland in various 

 localities, but as to the numbers actually procured in 

 Norfolk during that and the preceding month, I have 

 no means of judging accurately, since by far the larger 

 portion were sent up to London for sale, only some half- 

 dozen appearing at intervals in the Norwich Market. 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., was informed by a dealer in 

 Leadenhall Market that he had received as many as a 

 hundred whoopers during the frost, chiefly from King's 

 Lynn ; and one poulterer at Lynn stated he had had 

 thirty. 



