NOTES FROM EAST SUFFOLK. 169 



Starlings were doubtless bound for their accustomed roosting- 

 place— either some large bed of reeds or one of the alder " carrs " 

 in the marshes. In about the direction which these flocks always 

 took, at a distance of about five or six miles, there is a good-sized 

 piece of water, with a thick border of reeds, where many years ago 

 immense numbers of Starlings used to sleep, and the mighty roar 

 of their wings, as they went through their nightly evolutions before 

 settling down, might be heard at a considerable distance. 



Birds frequenting Eeed -beds. — Besides the many birds which 

 habitually frequent the reed-beds, I have lately seen there certain 

 species which are not usually associated in one's mind with such 

 places, only perhaps resorting to them for lack of other cover, or 

 possibly for change of food; as, for instance, Kobins and Stonechats. 

 For about a fortnight, at the end of October and beginning of 

 November, a Wren was nearly always to be seen creeping about 

 the reed-stems above Snape Bridge, as if in search of food. 

 Possibly small water-snails, such as the young of different species 

 of Limnaa, which are very abundant there, may occasionally be 

 sought after by this little bird. I once saw one making vigorous 

 efforts to extract a caddis-worm from its case (see Zool. 1889, 

 p. 184), and it seems not unlikely from this that the larvae of the 

 smaller dragonflies and aquatic beetles may sometimes be taken 

 by Wrens from the margins of shallow pools and ditches. The 

 Blue Tit, Parus cceruleus, at times visits the reed-beds, hunting 

 in small parties or flocks, after the manner of the Long-tailed Tit, 

 and the Bearded Tit, which it is to be feared is fast disappearing 

 from its British haunts. When thus engaged, it does not — 

 according to my experience — associate with the Marsh, Cole, or 

 Long-tailed Tits, as is so often the case at other times. 



Yellowhammer.— One was heard singing as late as Nov. 19th 

 at Snape. 



Great Spotted Woodpecker. — On or about Dec. 1st my 

 brother, while watching a Green Woodpecker on a tree at Leiston, 

 saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker come and alight upon the 

 same tree. 



Frog. — On Nov. 21st, a remarkably mild day, I was very 

 much surprised to hear a Frog croaking in a ditch in the marshes. 

 That there might be no mistake, I listened to it for some time 

 at a distance of only a few feet from the spot whence the sound 

 proceeded. 



