134 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



The last line of R. Pinchin's report is most satisfactory: "I 

 am sure there are more tern, sheldrake, etc., come every year." 



The report for 1905, for-Cley and Blakeney, was equally 

 satisfactory, and as it may be interesting for comparison I 

 take the liberty of adding it. The following are from 

 R. Pinchin's entries : 



" May 22nd. Found several lesser terns, and dottrells' 

 nests with eggs. 



"May 2^rd and 2^th. Found first nest of common tern, 

 and plenty of nests of each sort to end of month. 



"June jth. First clutch of dottrells hatched out. 



"June loth. First clutch of lesser terns. 



"June nth and 12th. Several more hatched out; strong, 

 healthy birds. 



"June i^th. First clutch of common tern. 



"June \6th. Saw young sheldrakes. There were a good 

 number of nests which hatched out well this season. 



"From June \6th to 2\st. Terns and dottrells hatching 

 out, and doing extra well ; very few young ones have died. 



" Jtme 24//z. Saw young lesser terns with feathers ; would 

 soon be able to fly. 



"June 26th. Saw clutch of twelve young sheldrake, and 

 another clutch of six. 



"July 2nd. Three young redshanks hatched out of nest 

 of four eggs ; one egg bad. These were very late. 



" July ^rd. Saw some sandwich terns, but none nested 

 here. Most of the young ones got off very early. 



" There were several fresh nests of common terns after 

 July 3rd. 



" I poisoned the rats before the birds commenced to nest, 

 but was much troubled with a few stoats during the latter part 

 of the season. However, I succeeded in killing most of them. 



" During the winter I saw three Iceland gulls (one old and 

 two young ones), also some little gulls and a Sabine's gull, 

 but nothing else rare. "R. PlNCHlN." 



I was fortunate in seeing the report of the Wells Wild 

 Bird Protection Society for 1905, and append the same : 



"TwvFORD HALL, April 2$th, 1906. 



" The watcher, Tom Cringle, informs me that the number 

 of nesting terns increased as usual, especially the lesser 

 terns, of which there were at least sixty pairs. 



