( 260 ) 



OENITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NORFOLK (1915). 

 By J. H. GuiiNEY, F.Z.S. 



(Concluded from p. 209.) 



August. 



6th. — A Gadwall t shot on Hoveton Broad (Blofeld). 



21st. — N.W., 4. Common Buzzard f taken at RoUesby (E. C 

 Saunders), a very early occurrence. 



25th. — For several years Barn-Owls have nested in a large 

 elm near my house, obtaining access through a broken limb to 

 its hollow trunk. Here a descent of some 14 ft. is necessary 

 to the nesting platform, and as the diameter of the hole is less 

 than 3 ft., the mystery is how they get out of it. The young 

 birds might clamber their way up, but it must be more difficult' 

 for the longer wings of the old ones. It is in fact on a large scale- 

 what a Woodpecker's hole would be, but then Owls have not got 

 the Woodpecker's climbing feet. 



The appearance of a White Owl in the day-time is sufficiently 

 unusual to puzzle the small birds, but they realise that it is a 

 mouse-hunter, and are not excited by it in the way that they 

 would be by a Tawny Owl. 



If a Barn-Owl comes abroad voluntarily, with the intention 

 of mouse-hunting before twilight has set in, it is to be noticed 

 that its flight is low. 



Septembek. 



2nd. — N., 3 in the morning. N.E., 5 in the evening. As 

 early as 4.30 a.m. a Greenshank, which had lost its bearings in 

 the high wind, was seen by IMrs. Wathen on a lawn near 

 Aylsham, quietly consorting with some Ducks by a pond. It 

 was a wild night, which accounted for many Waders on the flats 

 of Breydon, where the plaintive notes of the Grey Plovers were 

 incessant (A. Patterson, see ' Zool.,' p. 374). 



3rd. — N., 4 in the morning. N.E., 7 in the evening. The 

 migration of Waders was not confined to Breydon Broad, for at 

 a point about eleven miles further north and some four miles- 



