NATURAL HTST0RY NOTES FROM SUFFOLK. 327 



occasions, at about the same time of da}' ; the same leisurely and 

 apparently haphazard manner being invariably adopted. I was 

 able to watch the drake this morning from my window. 



16th. A beautiful rain. First noticed the young fronds of 

 the brake fern above ground. Found a young Kedshank on 

 the saltings, cold and weak. The two Shellducks were together 

 to-night at about seven o'clock. Foot-prints plainly visible at 

 the entrance of their nesting-hole, the sand being wet from the 

 rain. A few Frogs abroad to-night after the rain. Among them 

 I noticed one example of a variety not uncommon about here, the 

 colouring of which is strikingly brilliant and attractive. Writing 

 from memory I should describe it as follows : — Upper parts of a 

 rich, shining, chestnut-red; throat and under parts lemon-yellow, 

 profusely blotched and sprinkled with blood -red, the markings 

 on the legs and thighs being, I think, of the latter colour. Frogs 

 of very large size occur here, coloured as above ; but they appear 

 to acquire this distinct livery at an early age, as I have seen 

 young ones of a year old showing the same peculiarity. Heard 

 some Norfolk Plovers to-night on the heath. 



17th. A small Ladybird seen to-day, near the river, of a 

 species new to me, though probably well known to many entomo- 

 logical readers of * The Zoologist.' Its colouring was so beautiful 

 that I may perhaps be pardoned for attempting a description : — 

 The whole of the thorax and wing-cases intensely deep plum- 

 brown, approaching black, and having a remarkably glossy and 

 polished surface. It had four brilliant red spots, two being large 

 and shaped like a comma ; the others small, roundish, and closer 

 together. A pair of Kedshanks, very clamorous to-day, at the 

 top of the cliff, having evidently young ones close by ; they kept 

 alighting, from time to time, on the top of one of the oaks over- 

 hanging the saltings, uttering all the time their loud and 

 impressive alarm notes. It is a common practice with these 

 birds, when they have young about the saltings, to alight on these 

 trees ; and should anyone chance to pass nearer than they like to 

 the chicks squatting among the rushes, several pairs of Kedshanks 

 may often be seen together, wheeling and screaming about the 

 oaks, and perching from time to time on the upper twigs. Every 

 now and then they dash suddenly to the ground, where, as well 

 as when on the trees, they continually keep up the curious jerking 

 bow so characteristic of this bird. Several pairs breed on a dry 



