Birds. 1785 



" Beak black ; eyes with a narrow line of dark feathers around them ; head, 

 whole of the neck and breast delicate rose colour, mixed or clouded with French gray ; 

 wings and back French gray ; outer web of the first primary only, dark gray ; the 

 shafts bluish-gray ; upper tail-coverts, tail-feathers, and all the under surface of the 

 body, delicate rose-colour ; under surface of the wings French gray ; the shafts of 

 the primaries white ; central pair of tail-feathers the longest ; the remainder gradu- 

 ated, forming a wedge-shaped tail ; legs, toes, and interdigital membranes, vermillion ; 

 the claws black. Whole length of the bird about 14 inches ; wing, from the anterior 

 bird to the end of the first primary, which is the longest, 10| ; beak, from the point to 

 the feathers on the top, three-fourths of an inch ; length of the tarsus, l£."— Edward 

 Charlesworth in Proceedings of Yorkshire Philosophical Society. 



Notice of Ornithological Occurrences in Norfolk, for May, 1847. — We have this 

 month to notice the occurrence of two examples of the spoonbill ; the first, a very fine 

 adult male, was killed on the river Bure, near Yarmouth, on the 2nd instant ; the other, 

 also a male, but in immature plumage, was shot on the 19th at Salthouse. 



On the 7th, a pair of black-tailed godwits (male and female), having partially as- 

 sumed the summer plumage, also occurred at the latter place. 



A fine adult male golden oriole was shot on the 8th instant in the garden of a pub- 

 lic-house at Heigham, on the outskirts of the city of Norwich. It was in poor condi- 

 tion. A bird supposed to have been a female of this species was seen in the same 

 place on the following day, but was not obtained. 



Temminck's stint was taken at Yarmouth on the 14th, and about the same time 

 the following incident occurred. Some men who were employed in felling oak-trees 

 at Easton, on proceeding to bark one of the trees which had been just cut down, found, 

 fixed to one of the principal branches, the nest of a pair of long-tailed titmice, contain- 

 ing a brood of young ones, which appeared quite uninjured by the fall which they had 

 sustained. The branch having been cut off was fixed, with the nest still attached to 

 it, to the trunk of an adjoining tree, at about its original height from the ground ; soon 

 after which, the old birds recommenced feeding their young, and continued to do so, 

 as if no disturbance had taken place. The latter have since flown. 



About the 17th of the month, a nest, containing four eggs, which from their appear- 

 ance, and the description which was given of the old birds, are probably those of the 

 widgeon, was taken on the edge of the river Bure. The eggs have been placed under a 

 bantam, and we hope to be able to announce the result in a future communication. 



On the 19th a male osprey was trapped at Westwick ; the feathers on the back of 

 this specimen are without the white tips which are usually observable. 



About the middle of the month some dotterel (C. morinellus) and whimbrels and 

 turnstones, rapidly assuming their summer garb, may be noted as passing northwards ; 

 and some examples of the gray plover, which had been obtained from Breydon at 

 about the same time, had nearly obtained the black colour peculiar to the breeding 

 season. 



Later in the month foolish guillemots and razorbills have been frequent upon the 

 coast. — /. H. Gurney, William R. Fisher ; May, 1847. 



Howden's head keeper, in February last (J 847), in a ploughed field, near the hamlet 

 of Milford-cum-Kirby, in the parish of Kirby : its flight resembled, according to 

 Horner's account, the flight of any other gull, and it did not seem at all shy.' 



