834 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
that it will be most inadvisable to attempt such a measure; and 
if it is attempted in Australia it will not succeed. 
I am told that Iam making too much of these diseases, and 
that specially favourable circumstances aided me in suppressing 
the pest in my own district. Those who say this do not see the 
importance of the principle contended for. So great is that 
principle that I have offered to reduce the rabbit-pest to a 
minimum in the South Island of this colony if I am allowed four 
years in which to doit. For that was the time it took me to 
reduce the pest in the South Wairarapa. 

ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLK. 
By J. H. Gurney, Jon., F.Z.S. 
In continuation of my former Reports (p. 134), the following 
are the most important notes made during the first half of the 
year 1889 :— 
On Jan. 9th a Sand Grouse, Syrrhaptes paradoxus, was taken 
alive at Southrepps, and placed by my father in a cage with 
another previously obtained. The beak and skin round the eyes 
in spring lost their greenish tone, and by June had acquired a 
blue tint, which was brightest when the birds were excited. 
On Feb. 5th Capt. Applewhite sent a Dabchick choked 
by a “ Miller’s Thumb,” Cottus gobio, from Pickenham: the fish 
was firmly fixed with the tail projecting, in which position 
Mr. Gunn has since preserved it with the bird. On Feb. 18th I 
procured a Cormorant at Cley, where another was shot on the 
14th, and a third shortly before that. This is not a very common 
bird in Norfolk. Mr. Southwell and I saw two on Hoveton 
Broad as late as May 16th. 
About the beginning of April it was remarked that a duck 
at Keswick, in rather more than half male plumage, was evidently 
supposed by its companion—a pure-bred decoy-drake—to be a 
male, and accordingly he commenced a system of bullying, while 
his own mate looked on placidly, the supposed drake all the time 
fleeing from the pursuer, proclaiming her sex with loud 
“quacks.” On April 19th, at Brooke, a Woodcock was sitting 
on four eggs in a large wood of 163 acres, composed entirely of 
oak, with an extensive undergrowth of stub. It was so tame 
