2830 The Zoologist — November, 1871. 



terns ; and an adult male, in my own collection, killed on Hickling 

 Broad, near Yarmouth, on the 27th of June, 1867. I have now to 

 record the occurrence, on the 26th of May, on Breydon, near Yar- 

 mouth, of a flock of five whitewinged black terns, of which four, 

 settling on the " muds," were killed at one shot. The odd bird did 

 not come within range, and was not seen again, but two birds had 

 been observed on the same water two days before. The four 

 specimens thus procured were sent, in the flesh, to Mr. Gunn, of 

 this city, and proved, on dissection, to be two males and two 

 females, in full summer plumage. The two males are perfect, and 

 in plumage resemble my own specimen, as figured by Yarrell, in 

 his ' Birds of Great Britain.' I was struck, however, with a marked 

 difference in the female, although the above author states that both 

 sexes are alike, viz. that the tail-feathers, which in the adult 

 male are pure white, in the female are light gray, and the feathers 

 on the back are lighter in tint than in the male. Both females 

 have a few white feathers on the neck and breast, and the under 

 parts generally, though of the same greenish black hue, are less 

 glossy than in the males. 



Osprey and Spoonbill. — A fine adult osprey was killed on 

 Breydon, on the 20th, and about the same time a fine spoon- 

 bill. 



June. 



Swallow and Martin. — The mortality which occurred amongst 

 these birds in May, 1869, owing to the low temperature that pre- 

 vailed at the time, was again experienced, though in a less degree, 

 during the unusually cold weather which rendered this month one 

 of the most unseasonable of the pi'esent year. The combined eff'ect 

 of cold and hunger, the absence of sun by day depriving them of 

 insect-food, and the prolonged N. and N.E. winds, in their starved 

 condition, rendering them powerless for flight, thinned their num- 

 bers considerably in most exposed situations. At West Harling, 

 during the extreme cold that lasted from the 1st to the 10th of 

 June, many of these birds were picked up dead, and Mr. Ringer 

 informs me that, early in the morning, the men on his farm saw 

 them clustered together on the sheltered sides of the fences, too 

 exhausted to move far when disturbed ; but these, if the sun shone 

 out later in the day, would revive with the warmth and fly feebly 

 over the pastures after the little insect-life then stirring. Even as 

 late as the 22nd, when driving from Norwich to Surlingham, a cold 



