124 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Norfolk by the late Earl of Kimberley, would undoubtedly breed 

 in the country if it were not so persecuted. 



The Rev. E. T. Daubeney finds that this Owl is partial to 

 centipedes, and in the gizzard of one which was unintentionally 

 trapped at Costessey, Mr. B. B. Riviere discovered only Beetles' 

 wing-cases. A motion before the County Council to except this 

 species from the Norfolk schedule of protected birds was not 

 carried, which shows that it is not altogether without friends 

 among our landowners, the majority of whom know that the 

 good it does outbalances the killing of a few Pheasants. Indeed, 

 an excellent plea in its defence may be made out by the admirers 

 of this comical little Owl. 



The Autumnal Migration. — It is many years since the East 

 Coast has had an autumn when rarities have been scarcer ; in 

 fact, I doubt if there has been one in the forty-eight years during 

 which I have been a contributor to the ' Zoologist.' This may 

 be because some of our observers have gone to the war, but the 

 commoner species have not come over the sea in the same bulk 

 as in some years. On the other hand, on the Kentish coast, 

 where a good observer was placed, migration seems to have run 

 strong (see 'British Birds,' p. 226). As in former years, Mr. 

 F. J. Richards, who watched the] Norfolk coast to the west of 

 Cromer, was careful to jot down full memoranda of both the 

 wind and the birds, if there were any. 



The wind was registered as north-east on September 5th, 

 and it continued principally in that quarter up to the 10th, 

 during which time, although constantly on the look-out, he did 

 not see a single migratory bird of any rarity on the coast. On 

 September 11th the wind shifted to south-west, and continued in 

 that quarter until the 17th, but Mr. Richards saw absolutely 

 nothing indicative of migration, either in the Suceda bushes or 

 on the sandhills. The explanation probably was that the throng 

 of Wheatears, Warblers, and Redstarts, as well as the usual 

 Pied Flycatchers, Bluethroats, Barred Warblers, &c, had come 

 to Norfolk before the 11th, and there being no head wind to 

 delay them, had passed on to the south in the night unseen. 



On September 18th Mr. Richards saw one solitary Redstart, 

 the wind then blowing strongly from the north-west. After that 

 day he saw nothing on the sandhills or among the Suceda bushes ; 



