156 Natural Uistoiy in the English Counties. 



not fiiUy recover their foliage. The ash trees came out so late, that they, in 

 some degree, escaped. I find, on reference to an account kept in Barring- 

 ton's ruled journal, that, in exposed situations, the ashes were scarcely in 

 full leaf on the 12th of June, and the same trees were again despoiled of their 

 leaves by the 20th of October. I do not know whether it be worth noticing, 

 that, in this part of the country, there were scarcely any cones on the 

 spruce fir, which generally produces an abundance, and they were unusually 

 plentiful on the silver fir. 



The hard frost which set in about the middle of January brought num- 

 bers of ducks to our coast, especially upon the Salthouse and Blakeney 

 marshes j amongst these, the lapmark, or tufted duck, and the golden eye 

 were unusually frequent. An eagle was also seen about this time, not a 

 very rare occurrence : one was seen lately, and several, in former years, 

 have been shot at Gunton and Felbrigg. The Royston or Kentish crows 

 (Corvus Cornix) were observed during the Easter week (April 19th to 

 26th), congregated on the cliiFs for their departure; the last was seen 

 on the 26th of April, and they were with us again by the 6th of October. 

 Woodcocks lingered till about the 7th of May, and some had returned 

 to us by the 8th of October ; and, owing to the north-east winds, they 

 have been very unusually plentiful this winter. The short-eared or wood- 

 cock owl was noticed about the middle of October. The swallow appeared 

 on the 11th of April, and I saw one as late as the 30th of October. A wry- 

 neck was shot on the 18th of April ; the cuckoo was heard on the 17th of 

 April ; and, about this time, a crossbill's nest was found. The goatsucker 

 was heard on the 17th of May, and continued whirring till the end of July; 

 they hatch on the low fern hills of this neighbourhood. Flocks of larks 

 were observed at sea, coming over, during the third week in October ; and 

 also flocks of hen chaffinches. Small hawks were very numerous last sum- 

 mer ; but of the rough-legged falcon (Falco Zagopus), of which five or six 

 specimens are often killed in a season, I only saw one last autumn. As the 

 year advanced, the harbingers of rough weather increased : a snow bunt- 

 ing was seen on the 26th of October ; the stormy petrel was frequently 

 observed near the shore ; and the water-birds returned early to the marshes. 

 Large flocks of wild swans arrived; in one flock, 21 swans were counted. I 

 should mention that on these marshes are to be found smews, oyster- 

 catchers, and avosets, with the usual variety of knots, stints, and others of 

 the smaller Charadrii and Tringae, which make their nests there towards the 

 end of April. We have given some attention to the gulls ; and we believe 

 that the young of most kinds are spotted. One which we had young, in the 

 autumn of 1823, and which proved to be the large black-backed gull, did 

 not acquire his full plumage till the summer of 1827 ; his bill turned from 

 black to yellow, but the scarlet spot was not perfect till July, 1828 : the 

 next spring he died. These large gulls are more easily tamed than the 

 smaller ones, and are intelligent birds. We never allow of the cruel and dis- 

 figuring practice of pinioning birds ; and we merely cut the quill feathers on 

 One side : so that, after moulting, such birds as have been brought to us 

 unmaimed regain the use of their wings. One of our gulls, a spotted wagel, 

 which would become a black-backed, thus, after a few months' domestica- 

 tion, took flight about the end of July ; he returned to us during the gale of 

 the 28th of August, very hungry. After this, he continued to sail back- 

 wards and forwards, between our house and the sea, and would sometimes 

 leave us for a week or a fortnight, but he always recognised us on his 

 return, and ran up to the windows to be fed. He, however, began to domi- 

 neer over his less fortunate companions, and beat the other gulls and shell- 

 ducks without mercy ; he has now been absent many weeks, and we fear he 

 may have been shot. We tried, this winter, to tame a gannet, but without 

 success ; he was a savage bird, scarcely to be propitiated by sprats and her- 

 rings, and he died when we had kept him a fortnight, probably of some 

 unseen wound. 



