NOTES FROM NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK. 287 



Grey Wagtail passed overhead southwards ; this bird is here 

 considered uncommon by gunners and birdcatchers, altbough 

 pretty common around Norwich at this time of tbe year. I was 

 told a couple of tbese birds, a Grey Shrike, and an immature 

 Little Gull were shot a day or two previously, and I saw three 

 Shore Larks that had been netted during the same morning, and 

 which were reported as the first of the season. Three Wood- 

 cocks had been killed on the denes during the previous few days. 

 A large number of Twites arrived on the denes, but very few 

 Snow Buntings. 



A large number of waders arrived on the north coast of 

 Norfolk early in September, seemingly most numerous at Cley 

 and neighbourhood, the first examples being sent me on the 3rd 

 of that month, and from that date up to the end of September 

 I received specimens of the following species, viz., Ruff, Little 

 Stint, Knot, Curlew Sandpiper, Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit, 

 Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Curlew, Whimbrel, Grey Plover, Spotted 

 Redshank, Turnstone, Common Redshank, Golden Plover ; also 

 a few Wheatears, Stonechats, Lesser Terns, Great Black-backed 

 Gulls, and others. A large proportion of these migrants were in 

 immature plumage ; but Mr. Gurney states (p. 85) that " only 

 young birds were obtained." It may be well to correct this, for 

 I found two Turnstones were adult, and a Curlew Sandpiper 

 which still partly retained the red breast of its breeding-plumage. 

 The rarest bird amongst the above was the Spotted Redshank, 

 To tanas fuscus, a female in immature plumage, killed on the 12th ; 

 it had just began to moult a few feathers of the adult plumage on 

 its back ; its stomach contained the remains of shrimps. Most 

 of these migrants were exceedingly fat, especially the Sanderlings 

 and Curlew Sandpipers, the bodies of these latter being com- 

 pletely encased with thick layers of that substance ; the fat of 

 the Sandpipers was whiter and somewhat harder than that of the 

 Sanderlings. The principal contents of the stomachs of these 

 waders I found consisted of minute mollusca, small seeds, worms, 

 and shrimps, also a quantity of silt and pebbles, some of large 

 size. I dissected a female Woodcock on Nov. 18th, and found in 

 its stomach small mollusca, worms, coleopterous larvse, and wings 

 and other remains of small black beetles. 



During the middle of November an unusual number of Long- 

 tailed Ducks made their appearance on our coast, several examples 



