The Zoologist — January, 1871. 2419 



late ill the season, at Framliughara, near Nonvich,!! used frequently, after 

 leaving the turnips, to await the chance arrival of plover on the hiah 

 grounds, where they roosted, at times, in large 'congregations.' In the 

 vicinity of the coast they are also found in great plenty duriu" the winter 

 months, both at the mouths of our tidal rivers, and on the iiat shores of the 

 'Wash,' alternating between the 'muds' and marshes, as the tide ebbs or 

 flows. As before remarked, their numbers, like many other winter visitants 

 depend much on the severity of the season, a sudden change to frost and 

 snow bringing large accessions from more northern localities. * * :;= 

 There is one point connected with the migratory movements of this species 

 •which would seem, until very recently, to have escaped the notice of British 

 ornithologists— it is their whisUing by night over our cities and towns, 

 when attracted by the glare of the lamps on their nocturnal passage. The 

 very early autumnal migration of these birds is thus clearly indicated in 

 some seasons, as well as fresh arrivals during the winter months. Probably 

 many of my readers have remarked, at such times, the melodious notes of 

 these plover, which would seem to be uttered incessantly in order to keep 

 the whole body together ; and as this always occurs Avhen the nights are 

 extremely dark, I believe the birds, once drawn within the radius of the 

 city hghts, become perfectly bewildered, and fly round and round for hours, 

 till at daybreak the spell is broken, and they resume at once their direct 

 course of flight ; for in no instance have I known, under such circum- 

 stances, any unusual number observed in the neighbourhood on the following- 

 morning. I have heard them myself on more than one occasion, when 

 sitting up late, or from some cause unable to sleep, i)assing and repassing 

 over the house-tops throughout the night, their plaintive cries now dyin^ 

 away in the distance, and now again so loud and clear overhead that it has 

 seemed as if a gun fired upwards at the sound must inevitably do some 

 execution amongst them ; since, though lost in the darkness, the noise of 

 their wings is at times quite perceptible." — P. 67, 



Here follows a list of the dates on which these nocturnal 

 visitations have been more particularly observed in the city of 

 Norwich. 



" That the above dates, copied from my own note-books for the last 

 seventeen years, represent all the occasions on which these birds have been 

 heard, at night, over the city, during that period, I do not pretend to say ; 

 but inasmuch as a dark night at the exact period of their migration, alone 

 brings them under the influence of our city lamps, it is quite possible that 

 one or more seasons may elapse without their presence being thus indicated 

 by their clamorous cries. Accustomed, however, as I have been for some 

 years to listen for these well-known sounds at the beginning of autumn, 

 I never remember noticing any particular mingling of notes— aIthou'>h at 



