THE ZooLoGist—Makcu, 1875. 4365 
since we rarely came across or obtained examples of the short- 
billed pinkfoot; now it is undoubtedly far more commonly pro- 
cured. At the time the snow and frost broke up I was returning 
one evening in a thick fog from “standing flight” for wild duck 
near an open sheet of water in the marshes, when quite suddenly, 
and without premonitory warning, a small flight of geese drove 
almost into my face: they were either bewildered and lost in the 
fog, not knowing which way to steer, or I may have come upon 
them suddenly when on the ground; for the moment I was much 
too astonished to think of my gun—the appalling sough, at such 
close quarters, of so many big pinions, and the affrighted “ honk, 
honk, honk” of the great fellows as they squandered right and left, 
were enough for the moment to discompose even the coolest of 
shots: quickly recovering, I] emptied both barrels after the rapidly 
retreating birds, just as they were disappearing like a gray wraith 
in the fog. Running quickly to the spot Iwas met with a little 
drift of feathers, but no dead or wounded goose either then or on 
the following morning, when I sent a man to search the field. 
Bittern.—¥rom the already published accounts in ‘ The Field’ 
newspaper and various local journals, there appears to have been 
a remarkable migration of bitterns, east to west, during the severe 
weather at the close of the year: these frozen-out birds may have 
come directly across from the swamps and lagoons of Holland. 
We had four shot here: one in the neighbouring parish of Bradley, 
by a farmer, during the last week in December, as it rose from an 
open grip bordering one of the rides in the large wood. A second 
was killed on the 2nd of January, 1875, in the adjoining parish of 
Aylesby, from a drain near some rough and uncultivated boggy 
-land—the last haunt of the bittern in this district: the man who 
shot it told me it fell wounded, and fought fiercely when he 
attempted to seize it, lunging out with its formidable bill. A third 
was shot about the same date in the marsh parish of Fulstow. 
The two latter I examined; one was a male, the second a female, 
adults in very fine plumage. A fourth, I see from ‘The Field’ 
newspaper for January 23, 1875, is reported as obtained early in 
the month in the parish of Waith, a few miles from Fulstow. 
Eider Duck.—January 12. Old males in one of the local game- 
shops are, I see, in breeding plumage. These birds are doubtless 
brought in from sea in some of the fishing-boats. 
SECOND SERIES—VOL, X. ' oO 
