MISCELLANEOUS NOTES FROM GREAT YARMOUTH. 373 



holding a kicking shore-crab {Carcinus mcenas) in its bill, which 

 it promptly smashed up and devoured. 



July 21s^. — Redshanks numerous on the mud-flats. At the 

 end of July Sparrows were particularly attentive to spiders, 

 after which they hunted around windows, gates, etc. A friend 

 assured me that the Sparrows paid great attention to his garden 

 peas, but he was emphatic they were after insects ; another 

 person noticed these attentions of the Sparrows, but condemned 

 them as pea-pilferers. 



Swallows just after sunset, in July, have a method, very like 

 the Swifts, of rushing around in flocks, capturing what I take to 

 be the gnats and mosquitoes among the reed-tops, just previous 

 to retiring for the night. 



There are apparently twoblack Water-Voles haunting my ditch. 



On August 3rd I saw the forsaken nest of a Moorhen at the 

 end of a ditch black with filthy scum, the receptacle of the 

 drainage from a "cow-parr."* The young birds must have taken 

 their early swims to the great detriment of their little jackets. 

 It is odd that with the choice of manj^ acres of clean reed-bed 

 hard by, the parents should have selected such a situation ; 

 possibly the insects swarming there mayhavebeen the inducement. 



The only Green Sandpiper I have heard this autumn passed 

 over the " Moorhen " on August 6th. 



About a score Crossbills at Belton on August 8th. Same 

 date a Golden Plover passed overhead. 



Herons still visit the Frittou Woods. A friend when fishing 

 observed a Heron alight, apparently in the water, on the margin 

 of the lake. Knowing that the water is deep all round, he soon 

 solved the enigma by discovering the bird had alighted on a 

 submerged snag or bare tree-branch that had fallen into the 

 water. From this post of vantage the Heron lay wait for giddy 

 young rudd that toj-ed at the surface. 



There is a small pig- sty, notorious for its ooze, in a village 

 hard by, wherein the old sow wallows leg-deep. Above her equally 

 obscene sleeping-room, not three feet from her, a pair of 

 Swallows had built their nest, another apparent instance of 

 avine disregard for a sweet and cleanly home. 



* A " cow-parr " is Norfolk for a drainage corner of a cow enclosure, a low 

 corner of a " cow-yard." 



