47 



They appear to prey upon small reptiles and 

 wounded fowl that have escaped from the gun and 

 crawled in among the rushes to die. 



The specimen in the case was shot in the 

 Potter Heigham marshes in the east of Norfolk in 

 the autumn of 1871. 



SPOONBILL. 



Case 64. 



Most old gunners can remember the time when 

 flocks of these birds were common every spring in 

 the marshes and on the mudbanks round our coasts. 

 A few, however, still make their appearance nearly 

 every season about the middle of May along the 

 flat country between the mouths of the Humber 

 and the Thames. 



A Spoonbill, when pitched by itself on a mud- 

 bank where food is plentiful, is generally easily 

 approached within gunshot; but its unusual 

 appearance seems to so excite any Gulls that are 

 near at hand, that they immediately commence 

 flying and screaming round the stranger, and never 

 cease their clamour till they have driven it out of 

 their sight. 



The male bird in the case had frequented 

 Breydon mudflats for a week or ten days, feeding 

 whenever he could get a chance, but had been so 

 persecuted that he never had time to settle for 

 more than a few minutes before he was compelled 

 to quit the spot. 



It was only by waiting near his accustomed 

 feeding-ground just at daybreak that I was enabled 

 to get a shot at him. 



It is stated that many years ago they bred in 

 Norfolk, nesting on the tops of trees in the same 

 manner as the Heron. 



