96 A BIRD COLLECTOR'S MEDLEY. 



have found it next to impossible to let off a gun at that season in the bushes, 

 though I have not infrequently seen small birds that I failed to recognize, and 

 at which I should much have liked to have a shot. I always went in hopes 

 of picking up some rare Pipit at one of the pools, or perhaps a good Bunting 

 from the small bushes in the open, but two whole seasons passed without my 

 seeing anything that appeared worth shooting at. At last, on November 

 lyth, 1905, a large dark Pipit flew across me, with a flight very dropping 

 even for a Pipit. I secured it, and then noticed that the throat was very 

 white, and the back distinctly brown without any olive tinge. The legs 

 were stout and dark, and the soles of the feet were bright lemon. Lastly, 

 though the light portion of the outer tail-feathers was not pure white, it 

 was sufficiently near that colour to make me suspect that I had got a Water- 

 Pipit. On the 25th I shot another similar bird, and on submitting one 

 of them to an examination by Mr. Howard Saunders I found that my 

 surmise had been correct. I have not yet got the rare Bunting, but Mr. 

 Bates has, for a Lapland was brought him by a bird-catcher not long since, 

 and he has also received a Shore-Lark from the same source. 



In the winter, Geese sometimes pass over the Crumbles, and a fair 

 sprinkling of Duck are to be met with if we get a snack of really cold 

 weather. I have myself secured a Golden-Eye, and Mr. Bates has a 

 Ferruginous Duck said to have been shot there. I have also seen a Great 

 Crested Grebe on one of the lagoons, and a smaller Grebe on another. 

 Herons from Hurstmonceux heronry are often to be found; Gulls are in- 

 evitables, and sometimes in winter I notice also the Hooded Crow. Lastly, 

 I have Dr. Colegate's authority for stating that he once saw a Raven shot 

 there in a dense fog. 



