NATURAL HISTORY NOTES FROM SUFFOLK. 295 



green furze, as the little fellow perches for an instant on the 

 topmost twig of some bush close to the spectator. The more 

 striking and conspicuous colouring of the pretty little Stonechat 

 is sure to attract attention, even from a distance ; but the 

 exquisite colouring of the adult male Whinchat in spring is, I 

 think, more apt to escape notice. 



30th. Two Swallows were flying about this morning at 

 Blaxhall. Taking an average of eleven years, I have found 

 April 18th to be the time they usually arrive here. While in a 

 plantation at Blaxhall I saw a pair of Rooks alight on the top of 

 an oak ; they then scrambled down lower, and began apparently 

 to examine several twigs with their beaks, but in a particularly 

 leisurely way. They remained on the tree about five minutes, 

 and then flew to another oak. After a time one of them broke 

 off a twig, and flew away, with its companion, in the direction of 

 a neighbouring rookery. This is late for Rooks to be building, 

 unless, as is probably the case, their first nest had been destroyed. 

 In the above-mentioned plantation Bank Yoles are now very 

 numerous ; though the cats kill a great many they do not seem 

 to decrease in number, but rather the reverse. Last winter some 

 of these little animals found their way into a small thatched 

 building among the trees, used for storing apples and pears. A 

 good deal of the fruit having been found partly eaten, and marked 

 by the incisors of a small rodent, Mies sylvaticus was suspected 

 and traps set, with the result that several Bank Voles were 

 caught. I found one this winter in a tool-house in a walled-in 

 garden at Blaxhall. A box of hay had been placed there as a bed 

 for a Hedgehog, which animal had, however, escaped from the 

 garden. On removing this, some small animal jumped out, 

 which I caught, and found to be a Bank Vole. Saw to-day a 

 Starling, at Blaxhall, enter one of the nest-boxes placed under 

 the eaves of the house, carrying in its beak what I feel sure was 

 a " lamb's tail," or hazel catkin. Soon afterwards it brought in 

 a bunch of moss, — rather unusual building material with the 

 Starling. 



May. 



1st. Sand Martins have arrived at Iken Cliff. This morning 

 I heard a Thrush utter its alarm note, having at the time a lar^e 

 worm in its beak. There is just now a nest of this bird at 



