28 



THE NATURALIST. 



tip two and three-quarter inches. The other was twelye inches from beak to 

 tail ; wing from carpal joint seven and three-quarter inches ; heak two and a 

 quarter; I thought, until after the birds were skinned and dissected, that they 

 were male and female, more particularly as the smaller bird carried much 

 darker markings than the other, upon examination however, it proved to be 

 the contrary. Their gizzards contained vegetable matter and a little grit. 

 Sanderling. a female on the 25th ultimo. 



Bittern. Ardea stellaris occurred j)retty jDlentifully last season in 

 ISTorfolk ; and it has again visited us this season in rather large numbers. The 

 following instances have came under my notice dming the past two months; 

 a fine male on the 17th ultimo, killed by Mr. J. T. Frere in Eoydon Fen, 

 near Diss. I received information that another was obtained about the same 

 time at Langley, but not seeing it, I could not ascertain the sex. On the 

 28th of January, Mr. J. Pear, birds tuff er, received a male for preservation 

 from Surlingham, it having been killed the preceeding day on the road. Two 

 examples were purchased in our market dming the earlier part of this month, 

 and a nice immature male was killed this morning in the vicinity of Statham. 



Knot. A female on the the 28th of January. 



Grey Ppialarope. An example was obtained at Hasbro' in the early 

 part of January, It fell into the hands of Mr. T. Knights, bii'dstuffer, in 

 whose possession I saw it. 



Bewick's Swan. I have seen two nice examples of this rather rare 

 species, both of which were offered for sale in our market, one on the 1st 

 instant, and the other a day or two after. Both appeared to be males. 



Gadv^all. An immature bird of Anas strepera was killed with other 

 wild fowl by a person named Deane, on the river Yare near Coldham Hall, 

 on the 9th instant, he disposed of it Avith the rest of his game to a dealer. 



Velvet Scoter. A second example (also an adult male) of this rare 

 species has occurred on our coast this season. It was purchased by a bird- 

 stuffer on the 28th ultimo. It is rather a larger specimen than the one pre- 

 viously mentioned in a former number of the Naturalist, and like that 

 individual appeared to have suffered much from the severity of the weather. 

 Its gizzard seemed very muscular (the sides being an inch thick), it contained 

 a few marine shells, pebbles, and a few small pieces of crab's claw. 



Scoter. Several individuals have occurred, amongst them I noticed 

 tliree or four fine adult males. 



Golden Eye. A few old males. 



Smew. I saw two nice females of Mergus albellus, hanging in our 



