The Zoologist — February, 1871. 2453 



^oiias of f cto §0olis. 



The Birds of Norfolk ; with Remarks on their Habits, Migration 

 and Local Distribution. By Henry Stevenson, F.L.S. In 

 three volumes. Vol. II. John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row. 

 1870. 450 pp. demy 8vo, and three litho. plates. Price 

 ten shillings. 



(Second Notice.) 



I FOUND it SO difficult to get clear of the plovers that I could 

 only review Mr. Stevenson's volume as far as p. 95 in my first 

 notice. I will endeavour henceforth to be less diffuse, although 

 I confess there is no knowing to what length of quotation I may 

 be led by Mr. Stevenson's seductive pen. I heartily agree with 

 him in lamenting the decrease of the pretty lapwing, the "peewit" 

 of my boyish days. " In the Broads the falling off of their numbers 

 is very marked. Drainage and egging combined have here almost 

 exterminated them in places, and throughout the great extent of 

 marshes between Norwich and Yarmouth the lapwing has become 

 almost as scarce as the redshank." This, however, is by no means 

 universally the case in England, and probably from the absence of 

 the causes assigned. In that vast meadow through which the 

 railway passes from Hereford to Kington, a district I have known 

 for half a century, the lapwing feels as much at home as ever; and 

 it is impossible to wander there without disturbing these familiar 

 birds. I suppose there is small temptation to turn into arable, 

 meadows that will fatten a Herefordshire ox, and so they escape 

 the almost universal drainage now going on : the question is simply 

 one of pounds, shillings and pence, and the pervading sentiment in 

 Herefordshire seems to be in favour of beef rather than of wheat as 

 a source of revenue, otherwise these flats would be ploughed and 

 the lapwings driven to find homes elsewhere. I lately talked with 

 a farmer in the eastern counties on this subject, and tried to 

 convince him that excessive drainage is incompatible with en- 

 hancing the price of wheat, — a consummation, by the way, devoutly 

 wished by every agriculturist, and in which every mealman has the 

 most unwavering faith ; to him it is always " the good time coming." 

 When my friend pointed with pride to the mouths of concealed 

 drains through which the water was incessantly flowing to return 



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