86 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



About sixty Swans visited Breydon. Sharman killed three ; 

 Halls killed one, which he believed to be a Polish Swan, and 

 gave me a fairly representative description of it. It was quickly 

 sold for eating. The majority of the Swans appeared to be 

 Whoopers. Geese had been scarce ; five Brents were seen, and 

 a Grey Lag Goose been killed. Halls' s game-list for the week 

 was as follows : — 1 Swan, 34 Mallard and Duck, 6 Pochards 

 ("Pokers"), 5 Wigeon, 1 Teal (only one seen), 1 Golden Plover, 

 1 Crested Grebe, 60 Coots. 



A few Golden Plovers hung about during the week, but were 

 unusually shy. " Hard-fowl " — i. e. Golden-eyes, Tufted Ducks, 

 and Scaups — were seen in small bunches, but they too were shy 

 and wary. Never so many Pochards have been killed or seen 

 for many years. 



The few larger Gulls remaining here have been seen chasing 

 unwounded Dunlins whenever they flew near them, but these 

 quick-turning little birds were too swift for them ; escaped 

 cripples fared worse. The Hooded Crows forsook the Breydon 

 flats and the marshes, and kept to the open reaches of the rivers, 

 and to the shore. I saw a dead Gull clean picked by them — as 

 much of it as was not frozen into the ice on a ditch. One hungry 

 fellow was observed making strange efforts to get some viand 

 down his gullet, but his heart failed him ; prompted by curiosity, 

 the rejected morsel was examined, and found to be a tablet of 

 highly scented soap, much holed by his hard bill in trying to 

 find, if possible, a sweeter kernel ! Kingfishers have been 

 observed miserably sitting about on posts and rails, looking 

 abject in their hunger ; and even those who usually have no 

 pity were sorry for them. One came and tapped on the window 

 of Halls's houseboat. "While out shooting on one occasion he 

 left the door of the houseboat open, and a Wagtail that had been 

 hanging around for scraps went in and cleared the fragments off 

 his dinner-plate. 



And when killing a wounded Mallard by cutting its throat, so 

 as not to damage its neck, as wringing will sometimes do, the 

 blood dripped and congealed on the snow on the fore peak of the 

 punt. While in the houseboat a hungry Starling flew down on 

 the boat and ravenously ate the crimsoned snow, and when 

 driven away returned again, and ate more of it. 



