352 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



is kept up in select spots when heavy rains or some breakage in 

 the river's bank have flooded a few acres. 



Having tramped these fens almost daily during the past 

 twenty years, and during the shooting months with a gun for a 

 companion, and having an eye upon the wondrous works of 

 nature, it may prove interesting to the readers of ' The Zoologist ' 

 to learn something of my observations during that period. In 

 particular, I, like many, most deeply regret the decrease in 

 several species of our breeding birds. 



I will now give a list of the birds which still breed on the 

 fens here ; this will not include the broads, where several other 

 species continue to nest, though in diminished numbers. We 

 number Heron, Wild Duck, Teal, Dabchick, Moorhen, Lapwing, 

 Redshank, Common Snipe, Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, King- 

 fisher, Sky Lark, Meadow Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, 

 Pheasant, Partridge, and Red-legged Partridge. 



Herons. — There is a Heronry within a short distance of my 

 home, and the birds seem to be fairly numerous throughout the 

 district. Many are daily fishing in the ditches, which abound 

 with Jack, Roach, Tench, Bream, and Perch in plenty, but Eels 

 are scarcer every year, the Heron playing a great part toward 

 diminishing the same. Many a tussle have I witnessed between 

 Heron and Eel. In 1894 I counted twenty-six Herons on a 

 twenty-acre marsh going through a toilet of wing preening, &c. ; 

 most of these were young birds. Fortunately for the Heron he 

 is not a table bird, otherwise he might not survive here in such 

 plenty. Specimens of both the Purple and Night Herons have 

 been shot in the locality. 



Wild Duck. — With the common Wild Duck I note a great 

 falling off during the breeding season. In the early days of my 

 observations it was not an uncommon occurrence to stumble 

 across half a dozen clutches of young Ducks whilst tramping 

 across the fens during the month of June. A few couples still 

 breed here, and recently I flushed four in one lot and seven 

 in another at sunrise and sunset. Little parties ranging up to 

 ten in number may be seen tacking about the fens. In a wood 

 not a mile from my home a Wild Duck successfully hatched a 

 family several years in succession on the topmost branch of an 

 oak tree. 



