GUNN : ORNITHOLOGY OF NORFOLK. 



107 



tant, (south-west) from l^orwicli. I saw one of the birds, and part of the 

 eggs in his possession two or three years since. The recently captured specimen 

 mentioned above which I had the pleasure of examining, measured twelve 

 and three quarter inches from heak to tail, ten and a half inches in the wing 

 from carpal joint, the second primary quill feather being the longest. Iris, 

 hazel j irides and cere, lemon yellow ; bill, horn colour, darker towards the 

 tip ; legs and toes, pale orange ; claws, black. The appearance of the body 

 indicated it had been sitting. On opening it I found a cluster of small eggs. 

 Its gizzard was filled with the remains of a skylark, Alauda arvensis. 



Montague's Harrier. A magnificent pair was killed on the fen-land 

 adjoining the river near Brandon, about the 12th instant ; a young bird, one 

 of their offspring, was also obtained at the same time from the nest ; they 

 were sent up to N'orwich to one of our birdstuffers a day or two afterwards, 

 for preservation. The parent birds were in very good plumage, the young 

 one had hardly moulted its first feathers. Their food appeared to have con- 

 sisted chiefly of the "Water Yole, Arvicola amphibius, I found the young 

 bird's crop filled with the flesh, and in the stomachs of the old birds, some 

 pieces of bones and fur, intermixed with a few moderately sized pebbles. They 

 measured as follows : — 



Male. Female. Young. 



From beak to tail, both inclusive ... 17 inches 17 J inches 13 inches 



Wing from carpal joint 17f „ 14 „ 8|- „ 



Hawfinch, &c. This species has again this season bred in JSTorfolk. 

 A nest containing three young birds, and an addled egg were taken by a 

 young man, a market-gardener, in his garden at Carleton on the 1st of June ; 

 he kept them alive a week or two, until two of them died, then parted 

 with the remaining one, which, with the egg, passed into the possession of 

 Mr. J. Sayer of this city, who still holds them. He has succeeded admirably 

 well in rearing it so far, as it is very tame and lively, and will readily 

 take its food, which consists of egg chopped fine, hemp seed, green peas, and 

 sometimes a little fruit. On the 19th of June, an old male was trapped at 

 Ketteringham ; a second example, also a male, was obtained the same day at 

 Cossey. An adult pair of the Great Spotted Woodpecker, Picus major, with 

 the nest of four young ones was obtained on the 1 3th of June at Weeting, 

 near Brandon ; the only mark of distinction which appears to exist in the 

 outward appearance of the sexes is the transverse bar of red which the 

 adult male carries at the back of his head, and the total absence of the same 

 in the female. 



