GUNN : NORFOLK ORNITHOLOGY. 



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actions. When excited or enraged with each other the crest is raised to the 

 fullest extent, the wings outspread and dropped, and mouth open ; in this 

 position they shew their beautiful plumage, their brilliant waxlike tips and 

 the yellow ladder-like markings of their wings to the best advantage. The 

 flight is somewhat similar to that of the Starling, Stiirnus vulgaris^ with the 

 undulating movement so peculiar to that species. 



The food of this species consists of the berries of the Guelder Rose, 

 Dog Rose, Whitethorn, and Privet, and in no one instance (of all the dissec- 

 tions I made) have I found the food to differ; the berries of the Dog Rose 

 being apparently too large for one mouthful, they peck them to pieces, the 

 other berries they swallow whole ; they appear very gregarious over their 

 food, all those I examined were very fat, in some cases their bodies being 

 completely encased with that substance, sometimes as much as a quarter of 

 an inch in thickness. In the throats of many of them I found as many as 

 five, six, and even seven large hemes, besides having their stomachs crammed 

 out to the fullest extent. Xearly all species of birds are supplied with peb- 

 bles or grit, either large or small in proportion to their size or requirements, 

 to act as grindstones in assisting to digest the food ; in the case of the wax- 

 wings, however, I found they were deficient of those articles, the kernels or 

 stones of the berries apparently acting as substitutes, they are expelled with 

 the other matter that is not required when sufficient nutriment is derived for 

 the support of nature ; thus these birds have a fresh set of grindstones for 

 each meal. 



Golden Plover. A pair of these birds in our Fishmarket of the 21st 

 December. 



Heron. In dissecting an example of the common heron, I found its 

 stomach to contain the remains of a frog, partly decomposed, a smaller one 

 quite entire, part of an eel, some aquatic insects, and two balls or pellets, 

 one of the latter measured two and a quarter inches in diameter, the other 

 was much smaller ; they were composed of the fur of the water rat or vole 

 and a muddy substance,^apparently cemented with the gelatinous matter of the 

 frog into a compact mass. 



Knot. I saw four brace of these birds exposed for sale in our Fish- 

 market, on the 28th of December. 



Purple Sandpiper. A female of this species was shot on the 31st of 

 December, on Breydon Water, Yarm.outh. The beak is black at the tip assuming 

 a pale orange colour at the base. All the upper parts of the plumage are of a 

 deep purple hue, feathers of the back and upper wing coverts, edged with 



