318 
Lesser-spotted Woodpecker. A bird of this small and scarce 
species was killed in a garden at Diss on the 24th of November. 
Snowy Owl. About the 2nd or 3rd of November, a fine speci- 
men, which had been previously wounded, was shot by Lord 
Leicester’s keeper in the Burnham Overy Marshes ; the same re- 
corded in the ‘Field’ of November 18th.* 
The migration of Books, Skylarks, etc., as observed on 
the Coast. In my last year’s Notes I referred to the large 
increase observable in autumn, in Books and Jackdaws, owing to 
migratory arrivals on our coast ; and I may now add that a con- 
siderable flock of the former were observed at Northrepps on the 
31st of March, apparently departing by sea. On the 12th of 
October a considerable migration of Skylarks was witnessed on 
the same point of the coast, the birds pursuing a direct course 
S.W. by W. ; and on the 3rd of November, and again on the 12th, 
13th, and 14th, very large flocks of Wood Pigeons were observed 
at Northrepps, early in the morning, apparently coming in from 
the sea. 
Bavens. This fine species is sufficiently scarce for a record of 
the fact, that two were seen at Overstrand, near Cromer, on the 
20th of November; and Mr. F. Hele also records in the ‘Field,’ 
of November 24th, having seen three at Aldborough. 
Green-backed Gallinule ( Porpliyrio smaragnotus, Temm.). 
I am indebted to the Bev. E. W. Dowell, of Dunton, for 
particulars respecting a bird of this species, which was killed in 
West Norfolk, about the 10th of October, in the parish of 
* It is worth mention that in the ‘Ibis’ for January, 1877~(p. 131), is a 
notice by the editor, on the authority of Dr. T. M. Brewer, of “an 
unusual migratory inroad of snowy owls in the north-east portion of the 
United States during the past autumn.” They were remarked in flocks of 
fifteens and twenties passing south, and were obtained “ in large numbers, 
so that the taxidermists could not prepare all that were brought to them.” 
The editor also adds, “the same phenomenon has also manifested itself in 
the Eastern Hemisphere. Three examples of the snowy owl, one of which 
was captured in Ireland, are now in the Zoological Society’s Gardens. 
Mr. Cross, the well known dealer at Liverpool, says, he never had so many 
of this bird. Every steamer from America brings in two or three, so that, 
at one time, he had nearly thirty in his possession.” 
