MB. T. SOUTH WELL ON RARE BIRDS IN NORFOLK. 
201 
and even Gulls .along the shore, in many instances, fell victims to 
starvation ; so hard were they pressed for food that many Black- 
headed Gulls, and a few Laru 8 canus were taken in clap-nets on 
the North Denes at Yarmouth, near a spot where refuse had been 
deposited. Mr. George .Smith, of Yarmouth, informed Mr. Gurney 
that he alone had about a hundred and fifty of these birds brought 
to him that were thus obtained, and that in one instance so many 
were enclosed in the net that, on rising, their united power threw 
back the llap of the net, and they escaped. The Starlings seem 
to have braved the cold and scarcity of food as successfully as any 
species ; and in my small garden at Chapel Field, where there is 
always abundance of food of various kinds placed for the 
extraordinary variety of birds which visit us with more or less 
regularity, on one particular occasion thirty-six Starlings were 
counted, partaking of the food placed for them. The pleasure of 
watching the ceaseless activity of the mountebank 'fits, the 
demure little Hedge Sparrows, the tamest of all our visitors, 
the pert, enquiring Robins, and above all the awkward, uncouth, 
greedy, but beautiful-plumaged Starlings, alforded us an infinite 
fund of amusement, and amply repaid the trilling cost and 
trouble of administering in some degree to their wants. 
Of water-birds, the most conspicuous were the Swans, of 
which a considerable number of both the Whooper and Bewick’s 
occurred, also numbers of Brent and Bean Geese, and many 
beautiful examples of the Sheld Duck, whilst Smews wore more 
numerous than probably in any year since the spring of 1861. 
Certainly over thirty of these birds must have been procured in 
this county, a large proportion of which were fully adult males 
and females ; and towards the end of December very many 
Dunlins and Sea Ducks were procured at Yarmouth. Bitterns and 
Kingfishers had a hard time of it, several of the former having 
been killed, and a large number of the latter, whilst many Herons, 
most of them in very poor condition, were received by our local 
bird-staffers. On the 17th December, in the midst of the severe 
weather, Mr. Edward Birkbeck heard a Snipe drumming most 
vigorously on the sewage farm at Bixley, the temperature then 
being exceedingly low; and on January 8th, Mr. Gurney tells 
me an Oyster-catcher, still in summer plumage, with a good black- 
throat, was shot at Palling. 
