NOTES FROM NORTH NORFOLK. 141 



immature plumage of these two species requires an expert to 

 distinguish them. An immature female specimen of S. fissipes 

 was obtained at Barton about the same time. 



About October 19th two Little Gulls, Larus minutas, were 

 killed at one shot, at Blakeney, one of them an adult bird, the 

 other in an intermediate state of plumage between old and 

 young. About December 20th an Egyptian Goose was shot at 

 Eockland, and another was obtained elsewhere about the sam? 

 time. A Eed-breasted Merganser, Mergus serrator, was fornix* 

 on the shore at Overstrand on October 27th ; and, as I learn 

 from Lord Lilford, a white Scoter, (Edemia nigra, was seer> in 

 Lynn Deeps by Capt. J. Vipan on December 10th. 



It seems likely that more than two pairs of Shelduck, 

 Tadorna vuljmnser, nested at the point of coast alluded to in my 

 last Notes (Zool. 1886, p. 393). Two eggs of this species were 

 taken from a rabbits' hole, which, according to the finder, must 

 soon after have been filled with water by the tide, and one of 

 them was hatched under a hen. The young bird lived a short 

 time in my garden, and became so tame that it would take 

 worms out of the hand. Some more young ones were found 

 dead at high-water mark, probably drowned. They were not 

 all of the same size, and probably formed part of two broods. 

 Col. Hawker mentions that different broods will associate in 

 the same flock, sometimes to the number of 100 birds. On 

 September 15th a family party of young Shelducks, sheltering 

 under Salthouse sea-wall from a N.E. wind, allowed a near 

 approach, and one of their number was easily shot. It showed 

 the white face and other marks of immature plumage ; but the 

 family, having once learnt wisdom by experience, could not be 

 approached again. 



Mr. Seebohm, in his 'British Birds' (vol. iii. p. 520), states 

 that the Shelduck is provincially known in Norfolk as the "Bar- 

 gander," but I have never heard it called anything but "Burrow- 

 duck" in this county, and believe it invariably selects a burrow 

 to nest in. In the last published volume of the ' Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica ' (p. 788) there is an admirable article on the Shel- 

 duck by Prof. Newton, in which it is stated that the name 

 "Bergander" is now almost obsolete, which, so far as this 

 county is concerned, is I think the case. [The Editor has heard 

 the name " Bargander " applied to the Shelldrake by professional 



