286 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
crop, besides trefoil leaves and sundry indigestible bits of 
wood. It has often struck me what indigestible things 
birds eat. With us in East Norfolk the food of the 
“Cushat” in November and December would appear to be 
almost exclusively acorns, and the number they can stow 
away in their dilatable crops is very great. 
GREATER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 
A Greater-spotted Woodpecker dissected by me, and 
which proved to be a male, had almost entirely shed the 
red crown of immaturity, without in the least assuming a 
red occiput. Mr. Plant has recorded an instance of its 
quite doing so (Zoologist, 2824), and his bird was going to 
nest. So it appears that there is a period—though a very 
brief one—in which the sexes of this species are not dis- 
tinguishable. 
SNIPE, 
December 7th, 1875. Saw five Snipes which were’ killed 
at one shot flying. 
PEREGRINE FALCON. 
It has been doubted if a Peregrine in its wild state will 
tackle a Heron, but the following extract from a letter from 
Mr. A. D. Stark to my father, dated December 15th, 1852, 
respecting a young female Peregrine which he gave to him, 
would seem to show that this is occasionally the case :— 
“Tt was shot on the river wall between Thorpe and Rockland 
by a wherryman, who was on board his wherry at the time. It 
had struck a Heron to the ground, and appeared so far to have 
cowed him that he dafe not move, and it was enabled to make two 
subsequent strikes. Whilst it was in the act of making a third 
