ORNITHOLOGICAL RECORD FROM NORFOLK. 121 



Suffolk (T. Southwell), (ante, p. 31), about five miles from our 

 border, and since added to Mr. Connop's museum. As it has 

 never been obtained in the British Isles in this attire before 

 (though once taken on Heligoland in June), the accompanying re- 

 production of a photograph may be acceptable. It was sent to be 

 preserved to Mr. Bunn, of Lowestoft, who, in skinning it, noticed 

 that the neck was large, a seasonal dilatation which in some form 

 seems to show itself in the male of all the Bustards, and which 

 is shown in the cut. Three Kentish Plovers on Breydon mud- 

 flats (Patterson), and a red or "hepatic" Cuckoo at Hickling 

 (Bird). 



June. 



1st. — Turtle-Dove caught on a smack (Patterson). 



4th. — A pair of Avocets halted at Salthouse (their breeding- 

 place up to 1825) for two or three days (Pashley). 



9th. — By skill and dint of patience my correspondent, Mr. 

 Bird, at last watched a Short-eared Owl to her nest, situate in a 

 dry marsh of very wide expanse, doubtless similar to the site 

 chosen on May 2nd, where the pointed rush prevails, and is 

 everywhere higher than a man's knee. A few bents of Carex or 

 Juncus, rather dropped than arranged, constituted the whole nest, 

 which contained only one egg, and on that the female Owl was 

 sitting close as late as 8 p.m. — so close that, being suddenly dis- 

 turbed, she unfortunately forsook the nest. The nest, such as it 

 was, measured 5x6 in., and the egg 1*2 x '9 in., and by it Mr. 

 Bird picked up two pellets of the bones and fur of a young Water 

 Vole. Another nest subsequently found by Mr. Bird was a 

 forsaken one, containing only a whole egg and a broken one, 

 probably laid by the same pair of Owls. I learn from Mr. Bird 

 that two eggs of the Montagu's Harrier were found at Horsey, 

 and, when searching with him for Owls' nests, we came upon a 

 trodden place in the marsh — in fact, the commencement of a 

 nest — which contained what seemed to be the remains of a 

 dropped or soft-shelled Harrier's egg. The spot was a rough 

 circle within thirty yards of where Mr. Bird found eggs in 1896, 

 and also near to where I was shown a nest in 1883. It is a great 

 pity that these beautiful marsh Hawks continue to be so per- 

 secuted, but every man's hand seems to be against them, and I 

 fear the day will come when they and the Owls will be both alike, 



