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distance, in the bright sunlight, like ■whitethorns, or pear trees, 
white with the blossoms of the early summer. Tlie thermometer 
at this time was said to have registered thirteen degrees of frost in 
the City, and brouglit our feathered pensioners back again to our 
gardens and “charity boards.” A few \Yoodcocks were killed in the 
county about this time, and many Wood Pigeons were observed at 
Northrepps passing along the coast from the direction of Yarmouth. 
The effect of the frost upon garden shrubs, and especially Laurels, 
was very marked. ’ 
A gradual break up, -with a change of wind to the S. and S.W., 
began on the 30th, and the whole of the early part of February 
was mild and spring-like, and though skating was still safe, during 
the first week, on Wroxham Proad, Blackbirds, Thrushes, Robins, 
and Hedge Sparrows were in full song. 
On the 7th a flock of Fieldfares was seen at Northrepps, flying 
high towards the sea; Partridges wore paired, and the earliest 
spring flowers were in bloom, but vegetation seemed, generally, 
backward and received a further check from a severe frost on the 
23rd, the wind changing suddenly to N.N.E. On the 28th, a 
great quantity of Black-headed Gulls were seen at NorthreppJ, 
inland, about one in ten or fifteen having the brown hood. 
I heaul from a broadinan at Surlingham that some hundreds of 
these birds visited the Broad this spring, settling “ like a cloud,” 
as he described it, on the open water of “Bargate,” but they left to 'a 
bird in a day or two. One or two dark Gulls, Skuas most likely, 
had been seen previously. ‘ ’ 
IHarch proved rather wet and windy than frosty, and a heavv 
gale on the 3rd from S.S.W. did much damage to trees and 
buildings,^ and this unusually stormy day closed with vivid flashes 
of lightning. At Northrepps on the 4th, a few Hooded Crows 
were seen going away to sea, and at Aylsham, on the Gth, others 
were passing eastward; and large (piantities of these Crows and 
Books were observed at the same place on the 17th and 18th, 
flying very high towards the east. A small flock of Goldfinches 
appeared there on the 16th. 
April commenced both with its accustomed showers and some 
thunderstorms but, with the wind constantly changing from S.S.W. 
to N.N.E., vegetation remained backward and summer migrants^ 
if arriving about their usual dates, were late in announcing their 
