". - 



102 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



gives an imperfect list of some forty-five spoonbills observed 

 here between 1854 and 1889; of these more than half 

 occurred in May, and one as early as March 2Oth ; l but at 

 least two-thirds of them are simply dated, with the accom- 

 panying epitaph " Shot on Breydon" In spite of close 

 season quite a number are openly marked " Shot." Fortu- 

 nately for " spooney," he may now venture here in perfect 

 safety. Seventeen of these birds were feeding within half a 

 mile of me at one time on April 28th, 1901. 



For what reason the handsome little knot (Tringa canutus), 

 in his summer suit of russet red, has forsaken Breydon, I am 

 utterly at a loss to imagine. Year by year its visits have 



SPOONBILLS 



become less frequent, and one is fortunate to see half a dozen 

 in a spring. Fielding Harmer's remark that it is " abundant 

 both in winter and summer plumage" does not now hold 

 good. It must have been an exceptional year when, as he 

 states, " In 1863, in May, they were abundant in summer 

 plumage. Forty, fifty, and sixty were killed at a shot." 

 It is, as a rule, a tame and unsuspicious little creature, and in 

 autumn it severely suffers for this misplaced confidence. 



The avocet, that daintiest of all the waders, now visits us 

 only as the merest straggler. Why it should come at all is 

 beyond my comprehension, for it meets with a most hostile 



1 Mr. B. Dye has a fine specimen of adult female shot at Rollesby on March 

 1 7th, 1888. The ovary contained QUO. egg as large as a Barcelona nut. This is a 

 very early record. 



