1390 Birds. 



made it appear, that had they been unmolested they would have 

 remained through the summer for the purpose of nesting. 



To the improved system of draining, and the general use of the gun, 

 combined with the indiscriminate system of egg-collecting which has 

 been in some parts long carried on, may be attributed the great de- 

 crease in the number of water-birds which breed in Norfolk. The same 

 causes have, although in a comparatively trifling degree, lessened the 

 number of winter migrants ; but the decrease of the latter is apt to be 

 exaggerated, from the circumstance, that the number of fowl taken in 

 the decoys is much smaller than formerly ; which may be more cor- 

 rectly attributed to the noise and additional destruction caused by the 

 increased use of fire-arms, than to any great diminution in the actual 

 number of the birds which visit the district at that season. 



The punctuality with which many of the birds of double passage, 

 whether of regular or only of occasional appearance, arrive on 

 the coast, both in spring and autumn, is remarkable. 



Being hastened on in the former season, as well by the migratory 

 impulse, as by the near approach of the season of reproduction, they 

 then remain with us no longer than is sufficient to insure the supply of 

 food and rest necessary to enable them to continue their journey 

 across the sea. Many species are also observed at that season espe- 

 cially, to pursue a more direct course to their destination, by crossing 

 the land, instead of, as in autumn, following the line of coast. 



These overland flights are principally, in fact almost exclusively, 

 nocturnal ; in illustration of which, it may be mentioned that a 

 pochard duck has been known to dash at night through the window 

 of an upper room in the middle of the city of Norwich, in which there 

 chanced to be a light. It also frequently happens that short-eared 

 owls, snipes, golden plovers, and other birds are killed in these noctur- 

 nal movements, by flying against the wires of the electric telegraph on 

 the line of railway, as well near Norwich, as in the vicinity of the 

 coast ; and we once saw a bird of the latter kind which was found 

 alive near the railway in the morning, with one wing completely am- 

 putated close to the body, by the same means. 



In autumn, or rather at the end of summer, the earliest visiters are 

 the most punctual in their appearance ; they come at first in small 

 flocks, consisting chiefly of the young of the previous spring; and we 

 suspect from their tameness, and the fatigue which they exhibit on 

 their first arrival that they are birds which have crossed the sea, and 

 that the later arrivals are those which come down the coast. We have 



