■419 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



wind, both Keed and Sedge Warblers were strangely silent ; the 

 former, I was told, being very scarce. But I learnt afterwards 

 from Mr. llobert Pratt, who is constantly on the water, that he 

 had scarcely ever known the Broad so void of melody in marsh- 

 birds' notes ; and the same might be said of the cries of Coots 

 and Waterhens, so terriblj^ had these birds been thinned down 

 in the hard winters of 1879—80 and 1880-81. They had not, 

 in fact, recovered their losses, especially in the former winter, 

 when, with the Broad fi-ozen over, the half-starved birds were 

 knocked down with sticks, or killed by dogs and Hooded Crows ; 

 and the remnants of the Waterhens took to the stackyards and 

 upland fences. The Coots, after a time, left for the salt-marshes 

 on the coast, where the gunners killed large numbers, and very 

 few returned in the spring. Migratory birds were heard whistling 

 over the city, one night, near the end of this month. 



In the course of the summer I had ocular demonstration of 

 the abundant breeding of wild-fowl on a Norfolk estate, where 

 the strict preservation of game proves a sure safeguard. Here, 

 on extensive waters, were seen many pairs, with their young, 

 not only of the Common Wild Duck and Teal, but of Shovellers, 

 Garganey, Pochards, Tufted Ducks, and Gadwalls, as well as 

 Great Crested and Little Grebes. Further details as to locality, 

 site of nests found, &c., are carefully preserved in my journal. 



On the 1st of August a Hobby was seen at Northrepps. By 

 the 121h and 15th I find the usual notes of migratory waders 

 appearing on Breydon, and along the coast at Cley and 

 Blakeney. Curlew and Green Sandpipers were very plentiful at 

 the former place, where two immature Spotted Kedshauks were 

 shot on the 15th and 2r)th, and a few Pigmy Curlew and Knots. 

 Four Cormorants appeared on Breydon on the 29th, and one 

 Kentish Plover was obtained on the 21st; and a Black-tailed 

 Godwit at Cley. 



A Nuthatch visited my garden on the 7th, and was very 

 busy about the trunk and branches of a cherry tree. This 

 species nests, regularly, in some spot on the Unthank's Eoad, 

 between my house and "Mount Pleasant" Lane, as I fre- 

 quently hear its peculiar crj' during the summer months. 



I may here mention that Mr. H. M. Upcher, of Feltwell, in- 

 formed me that he had reason to believe that the Short-eared Owl 

 nested, once again, this summer in the fens at Feltwell. 



