NOTES FROM NORFOLK. 85 



and even by men, with impunity. The poison lies in the leaf, 

 especially when it is a little sear.* 



A Lapwing shot near Yarmouth in May had an unusually 

 fine crest, the longest feathers measuring 5j inches, and the next 

 4^ inches. I have shot one with a crest 4 inches long, but never 

 saw one equal the first mentioned bird, which is quite unique in 

 its way. 



A Redshank, Totanus calidris, was shot at Cley, on Sept. 13th, 

 which had an occipital tuft, or crest, of feathers half an inch in 

 length. This singular growth was pure white, and composed of 

 about fifteen feathers ; there was apparently no injury of any kind 

 under the skin, and the bird was in excellent condition. Some 

 years ago there appeared in ' The Field ' a figure of the head of a 

 Golden Plover which had been shot in Tipperary, and which had 

 a considerably developed occipital crest. In the Norwich Museum 

 there is a Sparrow with a similar growth, and a Wood Pigeon with 

 a crest three-fourths of an inch high has also been reported (Zool 

 1881, p. 332). 



The extraordinary number of Little Stints and Pigmy Curlews 

 at Cley and other places on the Norfolk Coast at the beginning 

 of September last was quite unprecedented, but only young birds 

 were obtained A season which produces one of these species in 

 abundance generally produces the other, but it is six years since 

 any considerable number of these birds appeared. For a week or 

 two anyone who wanted specimens had only to go to the mud- 

 flats ; but they decreased in numbers towards the end of the 

 month, and soon all had passed on. About Cley, on Sept. 14th, 

 were two or three Temminck's Stints, but, although I was on the 

 shore there, they did not come my way. Mr. Dack, however, 

 shot one. 



Grey Plovers were unusually abundant throughout the 

 autumn, and Knots were more plentiful at Cley and at other 

 places along the coast than they had been for years. Forty-seven 

 were killed on one day by Mr. A. B. Farn and some friends, and 

 I met with a great many myself. Mr. 0. V. Aplin, who was 

 staying at Cley from October 4th to the 14th, described them as 

 being then much less plentiful. On the other side of the county, 



* Several instances have been reported of Pheasants being poisoned by 

 yew. See ' The Field,' Nov. 25th and Dec. 2nd, 1876.— Ed. 



