The Zoologist — February, 1874. 3863 



on the Pakefield Cliffs, feeding on the stubble and ploughed lands. 

 I imagine their appearance was regulated each day, in some 

 degree, by the tide, as I found them later and later on the same 

 spot, and if disturbed after a certain time in the morning they 

 always flew off in the direction of the brackish marshes bordering 

 the river. At other times when flushed they would fly round, 

 uttering a pretty musical note on the wing, all twittering and 

 turning together, and sometimes tamely alighting in the path 

 within a few feet of the passers-by. There appeared to be over a 

 hundred when I first saw them, but their numbers diminished by 

 degrees, being probably shot at in the marshes : the sight of the 

 whole flock as they alighted on a dark plough was very peculiar, 

 the white on the wings being visible after the darker tints were 

 lost in contact with the soil, and for an instant giving the appear- 

 ance of strewn fragments of white paper, falling with the wind. 

 They never alighted on the sands or sloping sides of the cliffs, but 

 kept to the fields, notwithstanding the traffic. 



Stonechat and Goldcrest. — 1 found several pairs of stonechats 

 on the Lowestoft Denes, and on one occasion three or four pairs 

 of goldcrests in some furze-bushes, on the summit of the cliffs. 



Gulls. — Saw several fine old great blackbacks "riding" out at 

 sea, near the fishing-smacks, and towards the time of low water 

 I always remarked considerable numbers of gulls, chiefly young 

 birds, making towards Yarmouth, sometimes fifty or sixty in a 

 flock : these no doubt frequent the Breydon Muds daily, when 

 exposed. All these birds seemed to be in full moult at the time, 

 as the sands at high-water mark were strewn with their wing- 

 feathers, from old as well as young. T noticed on one spot on the 

 sand-hills, where a gull had evidently been preening itself early in 

 the morning, as many body-feathers as a swan would leave after a 

 similar toilet by the river-side. 



Bujf. — A young male of this species was shot at Stalham on 

 the 21st. 



Kingfisher. — Many of these birds seen during the month, as at 

 Aldeburgh, according to Mr. F. Hele's note in the 'Field' of 

 November 15. 



Mealy Redpoll. — These birds, so scarce last winter, are now 

 most plentiful. Our birdcatchers have taken many of them quite 

 close to the city, where they frequent the alder trees near the 

 river. 



