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nating species. This gentleman writes (B. of N. i. p. G8) as follows: — "The Water-Ouzel can 

 be considered only as an accidental visitant to this county, the few specimens obtained from 

 time to time appearing between the months of November and February (usually in severe 

 weather) upon our inland streams, as well as in the vicinity of the coast. Whether or not 

 the Black-breasted Water-Ouzel, the Cinclus melanog aster of Gould's ' Birds of Europe,' is 

 specifically distinct from the ordinary British form, with a chestnut band across the abdomen, 

 or merely a climatal variety, undoubtedly our Norfolk specimens belong to the former type. I 

 have at different times examined six or seven examples, all killed in this county, which, with 

 one exception to be hereafter mentioned, exhibited no trace of chestnut on the underparts, but 

 were identical with a Lapland specimen in the Norwich Museum (no. 40 b), collected in that 

 country by the late Mr. Wolley. We may naturally suppose, therefore, from this circumstance, 

 and the season at which our few Norfolk specimens invariably appear, that they are chance 

 stragglers from the Scandinavian peninsula ; and that this opinion is entertained also by 

 Mr. Gould, to whom I communicated the above particulars for his new work ' The Birds 

 of Great Britain,' is shown by his concluding remark, ' I can account for their occurrence in 

 no other way.' The Messrs. Paget refer to one example of this bird in the collection of 

 Mr. Youell, of Yarmouth, as having been killed at Burgh in November 1816; and Mr. Hunt, 

 in his ' list,' mentions Costessey and Laverham as places where the Dipper had occurred to his 

 knowledge. Mr. Stephen Miller, and the Rev. Mr. Penrice, of Plumstead, had also each a 

 specimen in their collections, both of which 1 have no doubt were obtained in this county. 

 The specimen no. 40 a in the Norwich Museum is the one mentioned by Mr. Lubbock in 

 1845, as 'lately' shot at Hellesdon Mills; and two others are stated, by the same author, to 

 have been seen at different times by trustworthy observers at Marlingford and Saxthorpe. Of 

 more recent occurrence I may notice a male in my own collection which was brought to me in 

 the flesh, having been shot in November 1855, whilst hovering over the river between the 

 Foundry bridge and the ferry. It is not a little singular that a bird so accustomed to the 

 clear running streams of the north, and the quiet haunts of the 'silent angler,' should be found, 

 as in this case, almost within the walls of the city, sporting over a river turbid and discoloured 

 irom the neighbouring factories, with the busy noise of traffic on every side. About the same 

 time that this bird appeared near the city, three others were observed on more than one occasion 

 on the Earlham river by Mr. Fountaine, of Easton, who is well acquainted with our British 

 birds ; but these suddenly disappeared, and were not seen again. Mr. Cremer, of Beeston, has 

 one killed in that neighbourhood on the 25th of December of 1860; another, in the possession 

 of Mr. Bullock, a bird-stuffer, in Norwich, was also procured in that year ; and a third, in my 

 own collection, on the 29th of January, 1861. All these birds were shown me in the flesh, and 

 had black breasts like my first specimen, and were in good plumage and condition. There is 

 also a similar example in the late Mr. L'Estrange's collection at Hunstanton Hall, amongst the 

 birds said to have been killed in Norfolk, and which was most probably obtained on that part of 

 the coast. From the winter of 1861 I know of no others either seen or procured in Norfolk 

 until the 24th of November, 1864, when a male bird was shot at Buxton by Mr. J. Gambling, 

 who very kindly presented it to the Norwich Museum (British series, no. 40 c)." 



Since the above was written, however, Mr. Stevenson has examined the specimens above 



