NOTES FROM NORFOLK. 433 
Northrepps on the 2nd May, all passing southward, at a con- 
siderable height; and on the 27th, in the same locality, a Buzzard 
was seen pursuing the same course, and another on the 380th. On 
the 5th a Common Buzzard, a very dark bird, was shot at 
Sprowston, near Norwich, and on the same date a large white- 
headed hawk, supposed to be a Marsh Harrier, flew over the 
Selbrigg pond at Hempstead, and excited much alarm amongst 
the fowl. As late as the 26th a Short-eared Owl was seen at 
Northrepps, and a bird of this species, flushed from some rough 
ground in the same parish on the 13th April, flew out to sea, 
after circling round at a great height. The note by Mr. J. H. 
Gurney, in ‘The Zoologist’ for May last (p. 228), respecting 
Partridges attacked on the ground by a Short-eared Owl 
is somewhat similar to the fact recorded by myself, in ‘The 
Zoologist’ for 1876 (p. 4896), of one of these Owls being taken in 
the act of killing a Lapwing. One instance occurred in March, 
the other in April. Would not rats and mice be less accessible at 
that time than, during the autumn and winter, in the closely-mown 
marshes? Two Ospreys were also killed in this county about 
the same date (May 12th)—one, an adult bird, at Morston, and a 
younger specimen on Breydon. 
Cuckoo in Reddish-brown Plumage in Spring.—Mr. J. H. 
Gurney, Jun., recently referred, under the above heading (p. 230), 
to the occasional appearance of individuals of this species, on 
their return to this country in spring, in a peculiar ruddy state 
of plumage, differing much from the ordinary autumnal tints of the 
young birds. I recently examined a young specimen of this kind, 
which was shot in May, near Cantley, on the River Yare, and it 
was, certainly, the most vivid in colouring of any I have seen. 
The Green-backed Porphyrio in Norfolk.—I am glad to find 
that Mr. Gurney has corrected my note (p. 228) on the Porphyrio 
killed at Tatterford, in this county, last October, and identified 
it as P. smaragdonotus and not P. hyacinthinus. I had not seen 
the bird when I wrote on the information of a friend. I have 
since learnt that one of the specimens kept in confinement at 
‘Northrepps by Mr. J. H. Gurney, Jun., has escaped; but as yet it 
does not appear to have turned up again, either as a genuine 
migrant or an acclimatized vagrant. 
Litile Owl.—On the 9th of this month one of these small Owls 
(Carine noctua) was brought to me in the flesh, having been shot 
BK 
