2598 The Zoologist— Mav, 1871. 



making our coast by day, and passing inland about the first 

 week in January, sufficiently marked the severity of the season. 

 Many of the sky larks and other small birds alighted ex- 

 hausted on the boats of the gunners at sea, and dunlins and 

 other Tringse, in their enfeebled state, were run down and killed 

 with sticks. 



In our Norwich Market we had the usual bunches, at such times, 

 of greenfinches, blackbirds, thrushes and starlings, as well as stints, 

 knots, gray plover, and .such like ; and gulls, large and small, snipes, 

 coots and waterhens (in regretful numbers), with every ordinary 

 species of duck or diver, showed the miscellaneous and extensive 

 bags of our local gunners. The number of fowl from inland waters, 

 however, was far less than usual, the shallow waters of most of the 

 broads being early frozen over, and everything driven for sub- 

 sistence to the coast and salt-marshes. 



Several little merlins made their appearance in different parts of 

 the county, and a few hen harriers, both adult and immature. King- 

 fishers, green woodpeckers, barn owls and other residents suffered 

 as usual, both from the privations of the season and the indis- 

 criminate slaughter of birds in general : little grebes and water 

 rails, also frozen out from their haunts, met a like fate. 



I may here remark that, of such birds as came under my notice, 

 there was an absence of that weather-beaten, blanched look, which 

 is so commonly observable in hard winters; but this, I think, is to 

 be accounted for by the absence of wind-frosis during the chief 

 part of the time, and the birds, tliercfore, though poor, were not 

 frozen on their perches at night, nor found dead and stiff" under 

 the stacks and fences. 



Partridges, both English and French, during the first deep fall 

 of snow, which remained so long on the ground, began to suffer 

 considerably, and large numbers, particularly of "Frenchmen," 

 were shot out of the fences. Rooks and jackdaws were also hard 

 put to it to obtain food, and hooded crows were more carnivorous 

 than ever. 



Off the coast the quantity of sea-fowl, of various kinds, was 

 greater than has been known for many years. On the north- 

 western side, from Holkham to Lynn Wash, brent geese and 

 common scoters appeared in immense numbers : of the former 

 1 never remember so many in our markets, although the chief 

 portion of those killed were sent to London. Scaups were also 



