ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLK. 133 



August. 



On the 3rd very many Common Terns, as well as Lesser and 

 Black Terns, were seen by Alfred Nudd on Hickling Broad, all 

 heading against the high wind (Bird) ; and the next day, and 

 also on the 8th, the wind being north-west and again very 

 strong, Mr. Jary, the watcher on Breydon Broad, saw the Terns 

 there, and what he thought were two Little Gulls. But the 

 Terns were not the only birds which felt this cold wind. As is 

 well known. Swifts are very sensitive to cold, and one of these 

 birds, after flying some time round my house, entered a bedroom. 

 Six more did the same at Postwick (G. Cross), and some House- 

 Martins were scarcely able to fly. It seems they were affected in 

 the same way in Norwich, for Mr. Southwell writes : — " On the 

 3rd of August the temperature fell rapidly, and a south-west gale 

 set in, which was verj' destructive. On the morning of the 4th 

 Chapel-field [gardens in Norwich] had the appearance of being 

 wrecked, .... Under the shelter of the main avenue there were 

 twenty or thirty Swifts flying rapidly backwards and forwards 

 quite close to the grass, evidently seeking shelter and searching 

 for food. Large numbers of Sparrows and Eobins were on the 

 grass, and the old birds were feeding their young. It was really 

 a most curious sight." This weather lasted until the 9th, and 

 on the 14th the wind was in the east. Swifts were benumbed by 

 the cold in 1859 and 1881, just as in the present summer, and it 

 is evident they are very susceptible to it. 



During this month Corn-Crakes were again rather abundant, 

 nine being flushed in one harvest-field at Sidestrand, and many 

 others seen near the coast (c/. Zool. 1900, p. 108). Prior to last 

 year these birds had been very scarce. Spotted Rails have also 

 become very rare, but both these birds are largely eaten in the 

 South of Europe, a fact which may account for their diminishing 

 numbers, as it most certainly does in the case of the Quail. At 

 the end of the month, when the weather had improved, fifteen 

 Quail's eggsf were found in cutting wheat at Cawston (W. H. 

 Bidwell), a good clutch and a late date. Although on different 

 occasions several hundreds of Quails have been turned out in 

 Norfolk, no effect has apparently been produced, and the birds 

 keep on getting rarer ; the last nest reported was at Fakenham, 



