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THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Scoulton) in some old Coots' nests. An excellent idea is given 

 of the appearance of a "gullery," when disturbed, in the frontis- 

 piece to this volume, which was sketched at Scoulton in June, 

 1872, by the masterly hand of Joseph Wolf. 



It is satisfactory to learn that since a close-time for wildfowl 

 has been fixed by Act of Parliament, the number of Ducks 

 remaining every summer to breed has increased considerably. 

 Duck and Mallard, Teal, Garganey, Pochard, Tufted Duck, 

 Gadwall, and Shoveller now breed regularly in parts of the 

 county where they are specially protected. In the summer of 

 1887, when visiting Lord Walsingham at Merton, near Thetford, 

 the present writer had the gratification of observing broods of all 

 these species (except the Garganey) swimming with their parents 

 about the meres at Stanford and Tomston, in addition to Coots 

 and Moorhens, Little and Great Crested Grebes. 



The Sheldrake, or Burrow Duck, frequenting the sandhills 

 on the coast, adds one more to the list of wildfowl breeding 

 regularly in Norfolk, and a very interesting circumstance in con- 

 nection with the former inland nesting haunts of this duck is 

 made known in the present volume (p. 123). It would seem that 

 in the days of Sir Thomas Browne of Norwich, that is, in the 

 time of Charles II, Sheldrakes used to breed inland upon the 

 ivarrens, and in this author's " Account of Birds found in 

 Norfolk " he particularly mentions these "noble-coloured fowl 

 (vulpanser), which herd in coney-burrows about Norrold [i, e. 

 Northwold] and other places." 



While on the subject of wildfowl it is of interest to note the 

 coloured figure which is given of the duck known as Paget's 

 Pochard (pi. iii., p. 208), and which is now generally regarded 

 by ornithologists as a hybrid between the Common Pochard, 

 Fuligida ferina, and the Ferruginous or White-eyed Duck, 

 Fuligula nyroca. Nor can we pass unnoticed the description 

 furnished by Mr. Southwell of wildfowl decoys in Norfolk, although 

 (as the reader is informed on p. 172) the account previously 

 published by him on this subject in the " Transactions of the 

 Norfolk and Norwich Naturalist's Society " (vol. ii., p. 538), is 

 " much more complete than space will here permit of." 



One of the most interesting topics discussed and illustrated 

 in this volume, is the occurrence in the county, so long ago as 

 Oct. 1702, of the Wall Creeper, Tichodroma muraria. It was 



