416 TJIE ZOOLOGIST. 



three Great Spotted Woodpeckers, seen this month in unusual 

 localities near the sea, had, no doubt, arrived on this coast. The 

 last House Martins seen this year were two young birds of a 

 very late hatch, flying feebly about Bracondale Hill on the 8th 

 of November. 



Several rime frosts and one severe night when eight degrees 

 of frost was registered, in December, did not avail to bring 

 wild-fowl, or other winter visitants, to our shores in any 

 numbers ; and the list of occurrences on any part of the coast 

 is but a meagre one. 



"When going up to London by rail on the 4th, I saw a 

 prodigious quantity of Lapwings rise from the meadows near 

 the Lakenham Viaduct. I should say between three and four 

 hundred. I never before saw so many in one flock ; and with 

 the sun on them, as they rose and spread out, it was a beautiful 

 as well as a remarkable sight. 



The scarcity of waders on Breydon was the same this month 

 as last ; and a few Knots and a Bar-tailed Godwit, shot on the 

 19th, was an event amongst the gunners. Golden and Green 

 Plover were plentiful, and a good many Wigeon appeared on the 

 3rd, and a Whooper was shot on the 11th. About the IGth, 

 seven Goosanders were sent into Yarmouth, one an adult male, 

 shot in the neighbourhood ; and three other j'oung birds had 

 been killed on Breydon with one or two immature Eed-breasted 

 Mergansers. Immature Golden-eyes were the only " hard- 

 weather" fowl, and one or two Greylag Geese were shot on 

 the coast— eight seen in one flock; and three Bean Geese in 

 the marshes near Yarmouth. Two more Sclavonian and one 

 Eed-necked Grebe were also obtained on Breydon. On the 8th 

 another Little Gull was shot on the beach, and an immature 

 Hen Harrier, male, on the 15th. Two Bitterns, from Hickling, 

 were for sale in Yarmouth market ; and a Peregrine Falcon was 

 shot on Breydon on the 13th. 



Early in the month, three Great Gray Shrikes were killed in 

 the county, at Loddon, Aylsham, and Fakenham. 



Waxwings were seen, and two or three shot at Palling, 

 Sheringham, and Hunstanton ; at Y'^armouth, one was killed in 

 the " Apollo Gardens " on the 14th, and two were reported from 

 Gorleston on the 17th. Woodcocks were numerous about the 

 15th, when thirty were shot in the coverts at Hempstead. 



