OBNITHOLOGICAL REPORT FOR NORFOLK. 127 



as it certainly was in one case at Yarmouth ('Nature in Eastern 

 Norfolk,' p. 148). It certainly is most singular that a westerly 

 movement should be going on in the very month (i. e. March) 

 in which thousands of Books and Crows are quitting Norfolk for 

 the east, but it must, I think, be due to the wind. 



18th. — At East Harling Sessions, Edward P , a game- 

 keeper, was charged with shooting a Bittern contrary to the 

 Wild Birds Protection Act, and was fined 20s. and costs — a 

 verdict which will no doubt meet with general approval. 



26th. — A very mild day; a Thrush sitting on four eggs.t 

 Japonica in flower. Bittern booming again (M. C. Bird). 



This is the time when Mistletoe Thrushes begin to chase one 

 another ; in Norfolk this common bird always goes by the name 

 of a Fulfer, literally afarer or traveller over fields (Anglo-Saxon 

 Fealo, see Bosworth's 'Anglo- Saxon Dictionary') ; but sometimes 

 a discerning rustic will call it a Dow Fulfer, meaning that in its 

 light colour it resembles a Bing-Dove. By right the name 

 belongs to the Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris), and is misapplied by 

 our country-folk. 



March. 



4th. — Several Wigeon on Breydon Broad (G. Jary). The 

 March passage of Wigeon used to be looked forward to by Yar- 

 mouth gunners, in the days when they might be Bhot, with some 

 eagerness. The following memoranda are by the Watcher : — 

 March 4th. — Several Wigeon. 7th. — About a hundred. 9th. — 

 Nearly two hundred. 12th. — About two hundred. 16th. — Wigeon 

 all gone. 19th. — Some have come back. 20th.— A few. 

 22nd. — All gone. 25th. — Wigeon back again. 27th. — Nearly 

 three hundred. 28th. — More have come. April 2nd. — Not 

 quite so many. 4th. — Shrinking every day. 6th. — Wigeon all 

 gone, after which there are no more entries. 



9th.— W.S.W., 2.*— Flocks of Starlings, estimated by Mr. J. 

 Vincent at over five thousand, came in from the sea, and were 

 seen flying west at Horsey. 



10th. — W.N.W., 4, at Yarmouth. A sharp fall of temperature 

 in Western Europe, the severity of the drop being plainly shown 

 by the published weather reports from Berlin, Paris, and London. 

 In Norfolk we had showers of sleet, and my men had to stop 



* Beaufort Scale. 



