Birds. 9406 



former clays had been celebrated for his address in seizing and killing 



wounded cormorants. 



Henry L. Saxby. 



Baltasound, Shetland, 



September 30, 1864. 



Ornithological Notes from Norfolk. By H. Stevenson, Esq. 



Little Bittern. — A very fine specimen, in perfect plumage, of this 

 rare species, was killed off a "rand" on Horsey Mere, on the 3rd 

 of September; and a bird, supposed, by its general colouring, to have 

 been a roller, was also observed at Horsey about the same time ; but 

 of this I can give no more satisfactory information. 



Honey Buzzard and Osprey. — A young male honey buzzard, very 

 prettily marked about the head and neck, each feather being slightly, 

 but distinctly, tipped with white, was sent to one of our bird-pre- 

 servers in this city on the 26th of September, having been killed 

 somewhere in Norfolk ; and a fine adult osprey was shot in Ditching- 

 ham Park on the 29th of the same month. 



Cormorant and Manx Shearwater. — On the 10th of October a 

 young cormorant was brought to me in the flesh, which had been shot 

 on the previous day at Coldham Hall, a ferry on the river Yare, about 

 five miles from Norwich. This bird had been seen in that neighbour- 

 hood for a day or two before it was shot, and was killed off a tree, on 

 which it usually settled when driven off the river by the swans, who 

 attacked it fiercely in their own element. The appearance of this 

 species at the present day, so far from the coast, is very unusual, and 

 of late years examples have been extremely scarce, even in severe 

 winters. This poor bird in no way deserved its name, having nothing 

 in its stomach but about eight or ten small worms about the size of 

 packthread, and nearly two inches long, some of which were still 

 living when touched, A naanx shearwater, also a rare bird in Norfolk, 

 was shot at Yarmouth about the same time. 



Nutcracker. — A specimen of this rare visitant to our shores was 

 shot off a tree in a garden at Gorlestone, near Yarmouth, on the 8th 

 of October, as I learn from the Rev. C. J. Lucas, of Burgh, in whose 

 possession it now is. I saw this bird in the flesh, and on dissection 

 found it to be a male in fine condition, the stomach (very muscular 

 in texture) being filled with the remains of a large dung-beetle 

 [Geotrupes stercorarius). This is the third recorded instance of the 



