

326 BIRDS OP 



is now often dry,* like many others in the same neigh- 

 bourhood, which at that time held large pike, perch, 

 and tench, and for some years the gulls have forsaken it, 

 and the Stanford colony of this bird has entirely ceased 

 to exist. 



In the spring of the year 1853, after the extensive 

 flood of the previous winter, a considerable flock of 

 black-headed gulls remained at Feltwell, some of which 

 attempted to breed ; also on Wretham heath, near Ring- 

 mere, but they seem to have been seriously inconve- 

 nienced by the rapid subsidence of the water at the latter 

 place. Of the former of these localities Professor New- 

 ton has kindly furnished me with the following notes : 



"I find from our 'Register' that on 5th May, 1853, 

 I saw a flock of about 200 black-headed gulls on Hock- 

 wold Fen, and a nest of the same, which contained an 

 egg. The next day I saw a flock of about 100 on the 

 same fen ; but, to the best of my recollection, not exactly 

 in the same part of it. Our ' nidification list ' shows 

 that a nest with two eggs was taken 15th May, 1853, on 

 Feltwell Fen, but I am unable to say whether I saw 

 them or what became of them. On 21st May, a flock of 

 about 100 was seen, in Hockwold, by my brother and 

 myself. On 3rd June, 1853, we again saw a flock of 

 about 200, and found some nests. These were all empty ; 

 the water was then fast receding, and the nests which 

 had been built on the margin of the flood were now a 

 long way off it. On the 10th June, 1853, my brother 

 and I found a flock of about fifty at Ringmere." 



Again, in the spring of the year 1883, when the 

 meres on Wretham Heath had spread beyond their 

 usual boundaries, some forty or fifty pairs of these birds 

 nested in the heather at the south-west corner of Lang- 



* Lord Walsingham has favoured me with the following note 

 with regard to these ponds : " The first time that the so-called 

 ' Bagmoor pit ' was known to be dry, about 1858, we took from the 

 last remaining muddy pool a tench weighing over 6 Ibs., another 

 over 4 Ibs., pike up to 8 Ibs., and perch up to 2|lbs. At another, 

 called ' Westmere,' I have seen pike of 24 Ibs. and 22 Ibs. taken 

 with a line, and have since shot partridges on the same spot. I 

 think the level of the surface water throughout this district has 

 very much lowered of late years." 



