45, 



THE ALLEGED EAEE EGGS FROM NORFOLK. 



By Ht. Stevenson. 



I should have again referred to this subject in the July number of the 

 Naturalist, had I not expected to find therein some further and more satis- 

 factory explanations than Mr. Sharp e has yet been able to render. As to his 

 own belief in the genuineness of the eggs recorded, (p. 366, vol. ii.) no one can 

 have any doubt; but the announcement of a London dealer that a gentleman 

 (no name given,) who had sO opportunely departed for i^orway, collected 

 them all in Norfolk in one season, leaves their genuineness, as British specimens, 

 as questionable as ever. Let us just reconsider the species the eggs of which 

 we are to receive on such authority as laid in this favoured county. Yellow 

 Billed Cuckoo, Eock Thrush, Little Bittern, Golden Oriole, Eoseate 

 Tern, and Sandwich Tern ; as to the first we are relieved from further 

 enquiry, since a reference to the London dealer has now established this as 

 a genuine specimen, but not a British one, and Mr. Sharp's own remarks, 

 respecting the Eock Thrush's % egg, will, I think, as effectually dispose of that, 

 at least in the eyes of such ISTaturalists as required authentication and identi- 

 fication as matters essential. As to the eggs of the Little Bittern and Golden 

 Oriole, it is of course quite possible they might have been laid in JSTorfolk, 

 but hitherto, as I stated in my last letter, no authentic instance has been 

 known of either species remaining to breed in this county. I would here 

 remark also, that eggs, easily obtainable on the continent, but very rare as 

 laid in England, are the last that a cautious collector should purchase from 

 dealers, with no better guarantee as to their local value. Norfolk I fear as 

 a rich Ornithological district gets credit for many rarities it has no claim to, 

 and as I remember in days gone by, that schoolboys a little hazy as to the 

 geographical position of some classic spot, invariably described it as some- 

 where in Asia Minor, so also dealers, when wanting a British site for either 

 eggs or birds invariably select ITorfolk. It would moreover be rather singular 

 with my present facilities for acquiring the earhest information on Ornitho- 

 logical subjects from all parts of the county, that such interesting facts 

 should have escaped me altogether. As to the Eoseate and Sandwich Terns, as 

 previously stated, from a recent exploration of this coast, I have reason to 

 believe that only the Common and Lesser Terns still nest with us ; the 

 Sandwich Tern in spring and autumn occurs not unfrequently, the Eoseate 

 has been seen but once. How then with the known difficulty of identifying 



