NOTES FROM NORFOLK. *i U U 



Mr. Napier, but was not shot, I am happy to say. Three Mute 

 Swans were shot at Ranworth, and Mr. Patterson noted that a 

 great number of Coots were driven from the inland broads to 

 Breydon, which is near the sea. 



My diary records that on January 12th, 1892, Mr. Pashley 

 reported a Shag from Cley ; and on the 15th a couple of Bitterns 

 were shot at Barton, and one the day before at Somerton — a small 

 bird, and remarkable for the breadth and rufous character of the 

 stripes on its foreneck, which in some specimens are very incon- 

 spicuous. On the 16th, a French Partridge, with the whole of 

 the breast and belly white, was shot near Attleborough. My 

 father had one pied in just the same way from the same district 

 (killed in 1873), showing that this peculiarity will crop out from 

 time to time. On the 25th two Eider Ducks were shot at Cley, 

 where two others were killed about the 11th, all females — far 

 commoner than adult males on our coast of Norfolk. 



On the 1st of February a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was 

 found dead at Norwich Hospital, in a glass verandah, where it 

 had apparently gone for warmth and shelter. Hunt speaks of 

 their visiting Rose lane, which is quite in Norwich. The weather 

 was not cold, indeed the day before Sky Larks were rising singing; 

 but this soon changed, and we had wind and hail on the 2nd, and 

 a few days afterwards the weight of snow brought down a silver 

 fir ninety-six feet long and eleven feet in circumference. Ducks 

 were more plentiful than before, and an immense concourse on 

 Holkham Lake was reported by Col. Feilden throughout the 

 month. On the 18th the thermometer fell as low as 9*5°, nearly 

 touching the lowest record of 1891. The day before Mr. Gunn 

 saw seven Tufted Ducks on Ranworth Broad, always a favourite 

 resort of this species, and the 19th he saw a great many Wigeon 

 at Hoveton. A pair of Pintails, Daftla acuta, were shot on the 

 29th at Cley, but though in good plumage they were very small, 

 the female only weighing 1 lb. 5 oz. Several Pintails, as I heard 

 from Mr. Patterson, were seen near Yarmouth, and twelve were 

 afterwards sent me alive from Nacton decoy, near Ipswich ; they 

 were in excellent health, and by the end of June had scarcely 

 changed a feather. 



There were a few Brent Geese at Cley on March 6th, and about 

 150 Mallard at Fritton on the 13th, but no Grebes. A Chiff- 

 chaff — first of the summer migrants — was seen by Col. Feilden 



