9406 Birds. 



appearance of this bird in Norfolk ; the first, in Mr. Gurney's col- 

 lection, having been killed at RoUesby, near Yarmouth, on tlie 30th 

 of October, 1844 (see Zool. 824, and a subsequent paper by Mr. 

 W. R. Fisher, on the same example, Zool. 1073) ; and the second, 

 which was seen in the flesh by the Editor of the ' Zoologist,' is 

 recorded (Zool. 4097) as killed off Yarmouth on the 7th of October, 

 1853. I cannot now ascertain whether this specimen had a thin or a 

 thick bill, jbut it is worthy of note that the Rollesby and Gorlestone 

 birds, and one killed at Wisbech, November 8th, 1859 (Zool. 6809), as 

 noticed by Mr. F. VV. Foster, of the Wisbech Museum, had all thin 

 bills, and two out of the three (the sex of Mr. Gurney's, singularly 

 enough, not being stated, although the contents of the stomach are 

 said to have been coleopterous insects) were males. I have particu- 

 larly mentioned these facts, since it is by no means satisfactorily 

 decided at present whether the thick and thin-billed nutcrackers are 

 specifically distinct, or whether, as in the case of the Neomorpha 

 Gouldii of Australia, the difference in the form of the beak is merely 

 a sexual distinction. I should be particularly glad of any authentic 

 information as to the ascertained sex or sexes of any thick-billed nut- 

 crackers, whether killed in England or abroad. 



Spoonbills, liicJiardsoti's S/ciia, and Eider Duck. — A young Rich- 

 ardson's skua, a bird of the year, was shot at Yarmouth on the 5th 

 of October ; and on or about the 25th two young spoonbills, with 

 scarcely any perceptible crest, were shot, one on Breydon and the 

 other on Hickling Broad ; the latter, now in the Norwich Museum, 

 had the irides light gray, not rich red as in old specimens. On the 

 11th of November a young eider duck, in very poor condition, the 

 stomach and gizzard being quite empty, was shot on Hickling Broad. 

 This bird is very rare on our coast. 



Henry Stevenson. 

 Norwicb, November 14, 1864. 



Ornithological Notes from Ulceby, Lincolnshire. 

 By John Coedeaux, Esq. 



Blackbird, Redwing, dc. — In this open and exposed district, 

 which contains but few plantations or hedgerows, blackbirds, red- 

 wings, thrushes, &c., resort, during the winter months, to some 

 favourite roosting-place, often far removed from their daily haunts, 

 there to spend the night in safety, till the first dawn of day calls them 



