ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLK. 87 



The frequent presence of Spoonbills on Breydon (tidal) Broad 

 during the spring, from April 18th to July, is due entirely to the 

 protection afforded them by the " Breydon Wild Birds Protection 

 Society"; and it is to be hoped the subscriptions to this 

 useful institution will not fall off. It has been carrying on its 

 work since 1887, but for most of that time with very meagre 

 support. 



Looking through the back volumes of ' The Zoologist,' it 

 appears that in registering the visits of Spoonbills to Breydon 

 Broad the wind has been noted in sixty-seven cases, and this 

 seems almost enough to generalize upon. Forty Spoonbills, in- 

 cluding two flocks, are considered to have arrived with a north- 

 east wind, nineteen with a west wind, two with an east wind, 

 two with a north wind, two with a south wind, and two with a 

 south-west wind. It is natural to infer that the wind which 

 brings the Spoonbill will be the wind for many other birds on 

 their spring migration ; yet north-east winds certainly do not, 

 as a rule, bring birds from the south, though it is likely enough 

 that they cause them to halt a while. Probably Breydon Spoon- 

 bills come from the east rather than from the south, viz. from a 

 settlement in Holland, where, in 1898, Dr. P. L. Sclater found, 

 in a strictly protected place, about three hundred pairs (' Ibis,' 

 1899, p. 124). 



During July we had two or three of the hottest days I ever 

 remember. The 15th and 16th were extremely hot. Barley 

 looked bad, but hay on my side of Norwich averaged nearly 

 l£ ton an acre. This was a period of drought, and the atmo- 

 sphere became charged with electricity, which culminated in a 

 downpour on the 27th such as I never remember. I registered 

 2*95 in. of rain at Keswick, the greater part of which fell in two 

 hours. 



Short-eared Owls bred near Hickling (M. Bird), Greater 

 Spotted Woodpeckers at Felbrigge (Davey), Goldfinches at North- 

 repps, Piedpolls at Southacre (Daubeny), Woodcocks at Banworth 

 and Quidenham (Lord Albemarle), Sheld-Ducks at Blakeney, 

 and for the tenth time, if not longer, Kingfishers occupied the 

 same hole, and that beside a frequented path, on a stream near 

 Aylsham (Buxton). An extraordinarily elongated Hedge-Accen- 

 tor's egg,t 1*05 in. in length, was found at Catton, with others 



