THE ZOOLOGIST. 
THIRD SERIES. 
Vou. IIT.) AB RA a PBF 9: [No. 28. 
ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLK FOR 1878. 
By Henry Stevenson, F.L.S. 
Tue weather at the commencement of the year was by no 
means favourable for either the sportsman or collector, the frosts 
in January, though severe at times, lasting but a day or two; the 
heavy snow storms, also, on the 24th and 25th were extremely 
local, and the ground was soon cleared, under the influence 
of a rapid change to a milder temperature with a considerable 
rainfall. 
JANUARY. 
Bittern.—Two Bitterns killed in the county between the 10th 
and 23rd were brought for sale to one of our Norwich bird- 
stuffers. 
Shore Lark.—Three specimens, but all in indifferent plumage, 
were shot at Blakeney about the 28th. 
Greenfinches, éc.— During the sharp frosts at the com- 
mencement of the month very large flocks of Greenfinches and 
Chaffinches, in both cases, apparently, all cock birds, frequented 
the fields in close vicinity to the city, and I have rarely seen more 
small birds exhibited in bunches for sale than appeared a few days 
later in some of our game-dealers’ shops. There I remarked a 
large preponderance of hen Greenfinches, and I particularly 
noticed one large bunch of common House Sparrows, all cock 
birds, about two dozen of them. All these had been netted, and 
werein good condition. 
x 
