116 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



which there is usually a fair sale, have been conspicuously rare in the 

 market during the past season, the first one appearing there on Sept. 

 29th (1905). The greatest number in any one day was five. Golden 

 Plovers were in some numbers on Breydon during the first half of 

 October — a rather unusual resort of this marsh-loving species. A few 

 appeared in the market. Two young male Shovelers on a stall, 

 Oct. 19th. An immigration of Lapwings must have taken place at the 

 beginning of November ; quite a glut of them in the market, bunches 

 festooning many a countryman's stall on the 4th. No bird, with the 

 exception of the Wood-Pigeon, so stirs the sporting instincts of the 

 lowland farmer, who, for the sake of a little sport and the few coppers 

 added to his Saturday's takings, ruthlessly slaughters his best bird- 

 friend. Again, on the 25th, was the market glutted with "Peewits." 

 Snipe have been scarce all the winter, and a very slow sale has existed 

 for those that were brought in. Duck and Mallard, on the other hand, 

 have been at times plentiful, and met with a fairly ready sale. An 

 unusual number of dead Moorhens on Dec. 30th. Jan. 6th (1906), 

 plenty of Wild Duck and Mallard in the market ; a few Snipe, bunches 

 of Blackbirds, and one Bean-Goose (Anser segetum). So rarely do 

 Geese turn up in the market that individual occurrences find a place in 

 my note-book ! The stalls were festooned on Jan. 27th with strings of 

 Wood-Pigeons, the majority of them indifferently plumaged ' ' foreigners." 

 They had been, mostly, industriously feeding on the clover-leys. Earlier 

 in the winter acorns were the usual thing to find in their crops ; in 

 February they divided their attention between the clover and the turnip- 

 tops. A number of Stock-Doves were mixed with their larger relatives 

 on Feb. 10th, and on one other occasion I observed some. There was 

 not a brisk sale for the Pigeons, the market-folk preferring to take 

 them home again rather than sell at a reasonable price, eightpence 

 each being asked for very indifferent examples. And one I purchased, 

 with others, in a promiscuous sort of way, would have been dear at a 

 gift, for it must have been brought to market week by week all the 

 season, if I may judge by the condition I subsequently found it in. — 

 A. H. Patterson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth). 



