284 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol.xv. 



S.W.," while the Meteorological Office gave it as " West 

 force 2 " (that is, a velocity of about twelve miles an hour) 

 and the same on the Dutch coast. The Larks were therefore 

 flying against the wind, but this can be better seen by a 

 reference to the map, diurnal autumn migrants of whatever 

 species seem to prefer a westerly wind, seldom arriving bj^ 

 day in the Cromer district with anything else.* 



Skylarks destructive to Wheat. — It is well known that 

 Skylarks keep down many weeds, but there are times when 

 they are doing the hard-pressed farmer damage. It cannot 

 be denied that these birds were destructive to a field of young 

 wheat at Keswick at the end of October (20th to 31st, just 

 when the migrants were pouring in) ; the damage being caused 

 by their eating, or biting off, the growing blade. It was the 

 grain that they were after evidently, but my bailiff, who knew 

 their habits, found that if they could not get down to it, 

 they would snap off the blade, which in most cases is enough 

 to prevent the grain sprouting again. More than once he 

 discovered that the Larks, not to be beaten, had sucked out 

 the germ or pulp of the grain, without actually uprooting 

 it, the drilling having been too deep for them. 



Grey Wagtail {Motacilla c. cinerea.) 



On April 30th, Mrs. Smith of Ellingham, remarked a pair 

 of Grey Wagtails at the lock on the Waveney, a spot where 

 nidification had been previously suspected by Dr. Ticehurst, 

 and saw them carrying moss to a nest in the woodwork. 

 Unfortunately all did not go well, lor they were worried by 

 a pair of Pied W^agtails, and their nest was forsaken when 

 only half completecl. Up to the present this species has not 

 been known to have bred in Norfolk, although black-throated 

 males have been sometimes seen. As an autumn visitor it 

 is fairly common, but it was somewhat remarkable to hear of 

 a couple in the middle of Norwich on September 30th and 

 December 28th (Long). 



Nuthatch (Sifla ciiropcea hriiannica.) 



I am seldom without these amusing birds in one of my 

 " boxes," and this j^ear a pair hatched their lull clutch of 

 eggs and reared nine young ones, the largest family we have 

 ever had. Why the unfortunates at the bottom were not 

 suffocated passes my comprehension, as it was they survived, 



* In this connection the chart of twenty-five consecutive Octobers, 

 nearly all spent on the Norfolk coast, by Dr. F. D. Power, is well 

 worth consulting. 



