78 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



great joy of dunlins and ringed plovers, which, in spite 

 of the downfall, hurry to and fro, most diligently snapping 

 them up. These worms must be wonderfully easy of diges- 

 tion, for except during the short intervals for sleep, mostly 

 taken at low water, and their pauses for a bath and a brush- 

 down afterwards, these sandpipers seem to be ever hungry, 

 and often feeding. A great wonder to me is how the supplies 

 of worms are kept up ! What tons must have been devoured 

 only since I first knew Breydon ! 



The black-headed gull in winter is a smart little fellow, 

 with his white head and distinctive ear-spots, which look 

 inky-black by comparison, and his sealing-wax-red mandibles 

 and feet. Of course, you know him to be adult if his tail be 

 spotlessly white throughout, and a youngster if it be barred 

 with black across the end of it. Before spring comes the 

 foundations of his hood, so to speak, " run," and, working 

 upwards, meet overhead. Over the eyes, too, a dark band 

 appears, and then, almost imperceptibly, the brown patches 

 blend into each other, the last angular bit of white to give 

 way being seen just above the base of the mandibles. On 

 Boxing Day, 1890, I saw one wholly hooded, and observed 

 another amongst a flock of variously speckle-headed birds, 

 also hooded, on December 29th, 1906. 



In March the black-headed gulls leave Breydon for their 

 nesting quarters. Many visit Scoulton, and nest there on a 

 sedgy island in some numbers; but all through the spring 

 small parties return almost daily to feed and frolic on their 

 favourite mudflats. 



Turning our glasses on to the wigeon feeding by the 

 DufTell's flat, we become much interested in the adroit manner 

 in which they dip, in turn, to get at the succulent stems 

 of the "grass." The upper portion dangles but a few 

 moments from their mandibles, and is separated, to float upon 

 the surface, until quite a swath of it lies there, to be carried 

 downstream after the next good tide. It is possible to judge 

 whether mallard and duck have been feeding with the 

 wigeon, either by day or night. Wigeon cut off the 

 "grass" from below, and mostly devour only the lower 

 portion the stem ; the others bite the fronds, devouring 

 fragments a little over an inch in length. You can see small 

 bits floating about. Wigeon will sometimes, when hungry, 



