480 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLK. 
By Henry Srevenson, F.L.S. 
JANUARY, 1877. 
ORNITHOLOGICAL occurrences, worthy of record, were un- 
usually scarce during the first half of the present year, its 
commencement being characterized by an unseasonable mildness 
and excess of rain, alike prejudicial to the prospects of the sports- 
man and collector; whilst, Jater on, the penalties now in force 
under the “improved” Wild Fowl Protection Act have had a 
salutary effect in checking the slaughter of migratory species, and 
with a few notable exceptions, including an adult female Black 
Stork, a White Stork, and an immature Spoonbill,—all from the 
vicinity of Yarmouth,—l know of no “casualties” infringing upon 
the law, in Norfolk, either inland or on the coast. 
Except in the fens of the south-western part of the county, 
Norfolk did not suffer to any great extent from the floods, which in 
January covered so large an area in Lincolnshire, Huntingdonshire, 
and even parts of Suffolk, but about Feltwell and Lakenheath the 
amount of water “out” caused great loss to the farmers; the seed- 
corn rotting in the soddened soil, mills stopped and many hands 
thrown out of employ, and still, day after day, the same leaden sky, 
and the rain came down, with but brief intervals of respite, till all 
was depression and slush! At this time, though the rivers were 
full, the marshes of the eastern or “ Broad” district of the county 
suffered but little, owing to the extreme lowness of the tides at 
Yarmouth and adjoining parts of the coast; but not so at the close 
of the month, when the fearful gales on the 29th and 30th, which 
caused such sad loss of life amongst our smacksmen in the North 
Sea, broke upon our shores, and lunar influences combined with 
the hurricane to raise the most destructive tide that has been known 
here for more than thirty years. The tidal streams which empty 
themselves into the sea at Yarmouth and Lowestoft overflowed their 
banks and inundated an immense tract of marshes, a considerable 
portion of which still remained submerged up to the middle of 
March, the shallow flood having a special attraction for Black- 
headed and Common Gulls and immense flocks of Lapwings. At 
Salthouse the tide broke through the sea embankment, and poured 
itself over the once-famous marshes at that spot, a former haunt 
of the Avocet. 
