238 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



interred. . . . Now the pits are used for depositing rubbish. 

 Amongst the miscellaneous collection of kettles to be found 

 there a robin generally builds its nest year by year. ... In 

 a railway bridge at Santon, Norfolk, six bricks had been left 

 out of the bridge, three on either side. Of the six holes 

 five were tenanted by starlings a few weeks ago. ... A 

 piece of the outer bark of a pine tree had been blown into 

 the middle of a hawthorn, the concave side being uppermost. 

 In this a blackbird built its nest, the run of the nest being 

 level with the edge of the bark on either side. . . . Several 

 years ago Mr. F. Norgate found a nest on Santon Warren, 

 which contained eight teal's or duck's and several pheasant's 

 eggs. ... A piece of oak bark had become fixed on the 

 crutch of a beech tree about three feet from the ground, and 

 a nightjar had chosen it whereon to deposit its two eggs, 

 rather than on the ground. . . ." 



Other notes were forthcoming, proving that the two species 

 of partridge not infrequently occupied the same nest. 



AWKWARD MOULTS 



Birds usually moult at an opportune season ; the wild 

 duck, for instance, when food is in plenty, and shelter 

 assured, and he does it thoroughly. Other birds which have 

 to be continually on the wing take a longer period and, as 

 a rule, do not shed too many feathers at a time, for safety 

 and convenience sake. But exceptions occur, and sometimes 

 disastrously. On June 3Oth, 1903, I was rowing up the St. 

 Olaves* River, when I fell in with a common gull (Larus 

 canus\ and very speedily secured it, finding it incapable of 

 flight, owing to a loss of most of its primaries. It was other- 

 wise wholly uninjured. On the same date, strangely enough, 

 another bird in the very same plight was captured on the 

 seashore. 



On September i8th, I saw a young guillemot on 

 Breydon without flight feathers, a long way from his 

 Yorkshire birthplace ! 



THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE 



Some correspondence took place in the county " daily," in 

 May, 1896, respecting the doings of the red-backed shrike 



