114 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



substantial foundation of thick sticks, and I think it is more cup- 

 shaped than a Rook's nest. A very few of these birds still keep 

 to our river valleys, but before long they will be as extinct as the 

 Raven. Mr. Caton Haigh tells me they are still abundant in 

 Lincolnshire, as well as the Magpie, which is becoming very rare 

 in Norfolk. 



There is another class which is suffering greatly — I mean the 

 marsh birds — which in the past have helped to render Norfolk 

 Broads so attractive by their presence. This great diminution is 

 no doubt in part due to the decreasing area of our Broads, most 

 of which are gradually " growing up " ; but still more owing to 

 the number of river yachts and wherries which visit these attrac- 

 tive water-ways, and scare the. birds, to say nothing of what 

 has been done to compass their destruction by a well-known 

 dealer in birds' eggs in the West of England. 



It is now several years since the Reeve has bred in Norfolk, 

 in fact, not since 1889, when, walking over " Rush-hills," I found 

 the nest, and was near treading on the four eggs. The last 

 appearance, or rather re-appearance, of these birds in any quantity 

 was in 1893, when for some reason there was an unprecedented 

 passage of waders of all sorts through Norfolk. On May 24th of 

 that year my correspondent, the Rev. M. C. Bird, observed more 

 than twenty Ruffs and Reeves at their old home, some of the 

 males with fine frills, a sight neither he nor any other naturalist 

 is likely to see again. 



Coincident with the increase of the Shoveller, the Garganey 

 Teal has become very rare, and the reason is not obvious. The 

 marshman at Sutton has not known of a nest for some years, and 

 I doubt if 1898 saw two nests hatched off in the whole Broad 

 district ; while there is no other spot in England where these 

 birds breed. I remember when their eggs were not uncommon 

 at Hickling, but now Mr. Bird's notes from time to time only 

 mention the Garganey as a great rarity compared to the 

 Shoveller, and generally seen in April. Mr. Bird has not been 

 able to definitely ascertain whether any Garganeys have bred in 

 the Hickling district since 1891. 



Of another species, the Spotted Crake, formerly very charac- 

 teristic of the Broads, Mr. Bird, in a recent letter, writes : — 

 " Spotted Rails have not been nearly so frequent of late years ; 



