122 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



as local breeders, extinct. Forty years ago the Broad district 

 could not have held less than a dozen Harriers' nests, but whether 

 the Hen-Harrier bred there is uncertain. 



12th. — Spoonbill at Swimcoots (Nudd), probably one of three 

 which left the Blakenny muds on that day (Pashley). 



22nd. — Green Sandpiper seen at Hickling by Mr. Bird. 



23rd. — A very dark immature Stock-Dove — almost a variety 

 — caught on Snetterton Heath, probably bred in a rabbit-hole ; 

 and a Wood-Lark seen at the same time. Although, at Keswick, 

 Stock-Doves have the accommodation of tubs for nesting, a pair 

 this summer chose an uninhabited dovecote in a very frequented 

 place. 



25th. — Of thirty netted adult cock House-Sparrows, twelve 

 had the chest-feathers, which are ordinarily black, strongly tinted 

 with chestnut-colour, a phase of plumage not accounted for in 

 any work on British birds. Perhaps the Passer rufipectus of 

 Buonaparte. 



July. 



9th. — Green Sandpiper at Intwood, a bird whose presence in 

 summer evidently does not imply breeding. 



14th. — A Green-backed Porphyrio, seen in Potter Heigham 

 Sounds by Mr. H. E. Harris, was shot a few days afterwards 

 on Barton Broad, and sent to Norwich. Sutton and Barton 

 Broads are very much "grown up" now, and their dense reed- 

 beds resemble the lagoons of Egypt, where this noble bird — 

 "Die Sultani" of the natives — used to be so common that thirty 

 could be killed in a day. From Egypt I expect the supplies 

 imported to this country by Cross, Jamrach, and Castang of late 

 years come. 



August. (Mean temperature, 62*6°.) 



The first week in August brought bands of Crossbills from 

 over the sea, which were seen simultaneously in four or five sea- 

 side parishes, and immediately afterwards in various places a little 

 farther inland, as from Sandringham (B. Clarke) southwards, 

 and as far inland as Horningtoft. A medlar tree in Canon 

 Venables' garden at Burgh was covered with them, from which 

 they turned their attentions to a bullace and apple trees, and 

 even gooseberry bushes and cherry trees were visited (A. Patter- 



