1860 The Zoologist— October, 18C9, 



approaching change of plumage. On the 14th but very few gulls 

 were left in the marshes, and on the following day the whole com- 

 munity had disappeared together with the temporary lake, and only a 

 pair of common gulls were observed where the day before there were 

 hundreds. 



March. 



White Sparrow. — An albino house sparrow was seen by the Rev. 

 W. Freeman, near Marlesford, early in the month. 



Hooded Crow. — These crows began to leave us on the 2nd, and by 

 the end of the week not one was to be seen in their old haunts on the 

 " saltings" near the river. 



Heron. — On tiie Sud I paid a visit to a large heronry near here, 

 one of the {q^ still existing in this county, where these noble 

 birds have been protected, it is said, for nearly a century. After some 

 hesitation the old gamekeeper allowed me to walk through the heronry, 

 for permission is seldom accorded to strangers to do so, as the pro- 

 prietor is exceedingly anxious the birds should not be disturljcd. 

 As we entered the wood of fine fir trees, the birds — to the number of 

 about eighty — rose from the branches on which they had been rest- 

 ing, and silently circled high above our heads. Now and then one 

 of them, catching sight of my retriever, swooped at him with a hoarse 

 cry. The birds were then beginning to repair their old nests, and in 

 some instances to build new ones, but the former, when annually 

 patched up, are made to do service for several seasons. No eggs 

 were yet laid, owing to the cold weather which had prevailed during 

 the previous three weeks. The nests differed little in size, one to 

 which I climbed being three feet across, and com])osed of decayed fir 

 branches and large twigs, with a little wool for a lining : on some of 

 the trees there were as many as ten nests, and in almost every instance 

 more than one nest was placed on the same tree. Wood pigeons, 

 carrion crows, with a few kestrels, seem to live in perfect harmony 

 with the herons, their nests often being within a {qvi feet of those of 

 their larger neighbours. 



Yellow Bunting. — An unusually large flock, numbering many hun- 

 dreds of these birds, was observed on the 6th ; they allowed me to 

 approach within a few yards before ihey took flight, then only moving 

 their quarters about thirty yards. 



Redshank. — A small party of redshanks returned to their summer 

 haunts on the 10th, and by the '2olh many hundreds were to be seen 

 near the marshes where they breed. 



