7392 Birds. 



bird may claim a place in this list. It was killed near Norwich on 

 the 10th of January. The head and back are white, with the most 

 delicate yellow tints over certain parts, and a few brown feathers are 

 irregularly mixed with white in the wings and tail. The throat, breast 

 and under parts also white, tinted with rose-colour. 



Bitterns. Two killed at Wroxham and one at Acle about the first 

 week in January, and one at Hempstead on the 10th. This speeies 

 has, I believe, ceased to breed in our marshes, and the specimens thus 

 met with nearly every year, but more especially in severe weather, 

 are undoubtedly migratory arrivals from the north. 



Dunlins, Knots and Sanderlings have appeared in immense num- 

 bers on the sea-coast and mud-banks of the tidal rivers. Of the former 

 I have seen more than a hundred at one time, during the sharpest 

 part of the frost, oflfered for sale in the streets, tied in bunches to a 

 stick. A few purple sandpipers, bartailed godwits and curlews 

 also appeared. 



Hoopers. Several killed at Yarmouth and other parts of the coast 

 during the first week in January. Mr. Somerville Gurney, whilst 

 shooting at East Winch, on the 9th, had the rare fortune to kill no 

 less than three, one after the other, with a breach-loader. About the 

 4th or 5th of February one was shot at Cossey, within three miles of 

 this city, and three others were seen in the same neighbourhood a few 

 days later. As before mentioned, I have heard of only one specimen 

 of Bewick's swan, killed at Blundestone, in Suffolk, These birds were 

 pretty numerous during the sharp winter of 1855, when two Polish 

 swans were also shot in Norfolk. 



Wild Geese. Bean and Brent geese as usual numerous, especially 

 in the large open districts in the western parts of the county. A few 

 bemicle and whitefronted geese have also been brought to the market, 

 and two or three specimens of that rarer species the pinkfooted goose, 

 but no gray-lags that I can ascertain. 



Goosanders. Several females and young birds have been killed 

 since the commencement of the sharp frosts, but very few old males, 

 as in the winter of 1855. I have seen but two of these birds this 

 season in their full plumage, with the rich buffy tints on the under 

 parts, and these were killed between the 24th of January and the 5th 

 of February, when, even in the first instance, the snow and ice had 

 yielded to a rapid thaw. 



Redhreasted Merganser. More scarce than usual. I have seen 

 only one female and a young male, killed in January. No old males 

 heard of at present. 



