280 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



outer circle of reddiah orange ; the naked skin around eyes of a 

 rich purple hlue, as also the extreme corners of the gape ; about 

 the eye to base of bill a reddish flesh tint ; bill j'ellow, with 

 reddish tinge on base of both mandibles. Its stomach contained 

 remains of a perch of 5^ in. This Heron had a large tumor in the 

 sole of one foot as large as a pigeon's egg, which much impeded 

 the bird in not allowing its foot to be placed in proper position 

 on the ground, consequently the claws of two of the toes somewhat 

 deviated from their normal growth. On March 18th, just three 

 weeks later, another adult male came to hand, having been 

 obtained from the river-side at Elmham ; the feathers of its fore- 

 head and crown were pure white, and it had four long and broad 

 occipital crest-feathers, being an indication of mature age. On 

 opening its stomach, I found both that and its gullet literally 

 crammed with five roach 9 in. in length and weighing 7 oz., 

 a miller's-thumb, a stone-loach, and eighteen examples of the 

 "pride" or " mud-lampern" (a somewhat local species, but too 

 much decomposed to admit of preservation), and, lastly, two black 

 bags of frog-spawn. An immature "male Heron, killed near 

 "Wymondham, had its stomach and gullet filled with the partly- 

 digested remains of a water vole, Arvicola pratcnsis, which it had 

 swallowed entire, head foremost. 



An adult male Coot, Fulica atra, having the largest bald pate 

 I have seen, was given to me on Feb. 24th, having just been killed 

 on Barton Broad by Mr. Preston. This species has been — I think 

 erroneously — reported to be detrimental to the fishery interest 

 by feeding on the small fry ; but only in one instance, out of a 

 large number of dissections I have made at different times, have 

 I ever found this to be the case — this bird was captured by taking 

 a small fish-bait from an eel-line on Burnt Fen Broad. On 

 Nov. 17th a male Water Rail, with very pale plumage, was sent 

 me, having been shot at Earsham, near Bungay. Another, a 

 very small bird, was killed in this neighbourhood the same day, 

 and weighed scarcely three ounces. 



On the morning of October 20th I took a walk on the North 

 Denes from Yarmouth to Caistor. Sky Larks seemed fairly 

 abundant, sometimes in companies of seven or eight ; very few 

 Titlarks (Meadow Pipits) ; small flocks of Twites. I saw a 

 gathering of about twenty Grey Crows feeding on the edge of the 

 surf; five Snow Buntings, and subsequently two more. A solitary 



