128 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



4th. — N.E., warm. A pair of Spoonbills were seen by the 

 watcher to fly over Breydon Broad, but not to alight, it being 

 high water, after which they passed out of sight in the usual 

 direction — north-east. These are the only Spoonbills seen during 

 1905, with the exception of one reported in May at Hickling. 



9th. — E.N.E., 6. After five days of continuous north-easterly 

 winds (velocity 5-6), amounting to a gale, an adult Sea-Eagle,t 

 with a good white tail, turned up at Hanworth, some five miles 

 from the coast, where it was speedily peppered with small shot 

 by a too zealous gamekeeper. Norfolk has produced many Sea- 

 Eagles at different times, but an adult has never been recorded 

 before, and an effort has been made to secure the specimen for 

 Norwich Museum. The date of its appearance was also very late, 

 but for this the gale was accountable. Compared with the series in 

 the Museum, its plumage is not very good, being decidedly faded, 

 and the feathers abraded, like a bird which has missed its spring 

 moult. The whole of the tail is white, except the upper tail- 

 coverts, which are edged with brown ; the tone of the head is 

 very pale, and the wings from the carpal joint to the body are 

 also pale. Male, proved by the dissection of the late Mr. J. A. 

 Cole, who stuffed it. 



12th. — Dabchick's nest with one egg near Twyford (C. 

 Hamond), and another nest with three eggs at Stoke Holy Cross, 

 which has long been an occasional breeding haunt of this species. 

 The accompanying photograph by Mr. E. L. King shows its 

 position, with the eggs uncovered (cf. p. 129). 



13th. — Utility of the Barn-Oivl. — A Barn-Owl's tub, put up 

 in an oak-tree to encourage this "farmer's friend," contained 

 on examination a young Starling and a Greenfinch, and the 

 usual collection of pellets. These, being soaked in water and 

 carefully examined, further yielded one Blackbird's skull, eight 

 Sparrows' or Finches' skulls, and the remains of fourteen small 

 Eats, thirteen Shrews, twenty-five Mice, and one Mole. While 

 this testimony to the Barn-Owl's utility was being displayed, 

 there might have been seen a few miles off two keepers' gibbets 

 with Barn-Owls nailed up as vermin, as I am assured by friends 

 who could not be mistaken. A copy of the leaflet on the Barn- 

 Owl, published by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries (No. 51), 

 was sent in both cases to the head-keeper on the estate, and it is 



