NOTES FROM NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK. 417 



The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, at one time regarded as 

 rare in Norfolk, is now added to my list yearly. A female 

 specimen was shot Jan. 26th at Runton, near Cromer, its stomach 

 being filled with insect remains. A second, also a female, had 

 been previously killed on the 22nd near this city. A third was 

 caught by a cat, Oct. 7th, in the parish of Cossey, and brought 

 into the house alive, but died the following daj^ 



On June 25th I found a nest of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers 

 in the decaying trunk of an old birch tree, the hole being situated 

 about twelve feet from the ground. The old birds had made 

 several previous borings above the spot finally selected, the wood 

 apparently being too much decayed to answer their purpose. 

 My attention was first directed to the nest by the clamorous 

 cries of the young birds, five in number. Of these the two 

 smallest and latest hatched proved to be males ; the three others 

 larger and older, as indicated by the fuller development of their 

 feathers, were females. I have before remarked this disproportion 

 in the size of the sexes, in the young of the Sparrowhawk (Zool. 

 1885, p. 51). The stomachs of the young Woodpeckers were 

 filled with larva-skins, spiders, and small beetles. The decayed 

 tree was felled, and I cut out that section of the trunk which 

 contained the nest. A number of broad spreading fungi were 

 attached to the trunk, which the old birds apparently used as 

 shelters in their borings, a particularly fine one being situated 

 just above their abode, and on which I occasionally saw the old 

 birds sitting. The stomach of an adult male of Picus major, 

 received on Nov. 30th, contained three full-grown larva-skins 

 of the wood-leopard moth, together with other insect remains. 



An immature male Missel Thrush, procured on July 5th, had 

 in the stomach remains of small beetles and larva-skins, and 

 three Filaria, each about an inch long. 



The first specimen of the Ring Ouzel seen during the autumn 

 migration was a male, shot Sept. 30th at Rockland, near Norwich. 



On dissecting an adult female Kingfisher I found the stomach 

 contained a roach which measured 2f in. in length, and which, 

 being longer than the bird's body, was nipped across the middle, 

 and lay doubled in the stomach. 



Mr. Gurney (Zool. 1886, p. 391) mentions the fact of 

 Bramblings, Fringilla montifringilla, being more numerous during 

 the winter of 1885 — 86 than had been the case for some years; 



ZOOLOGIST. NOV. 1887. 2 K 



