mr. a. Patterson’s natural history notes from Yarmouth. 
May 18th. Cuckoo Gurnard ( Trigla hirundo) weighing 8^ lbs. 
on sale. 
May 22nd. Ilad half-an-hour’s extreme pleasure in watching 
six Spoonbills. They acted very much in unison, both in moving 
around and in spooning at the drain’s edge. 
May 14th. A score Grey Plovers flew in this morning. 
June Gth. Two Greenshanks on Breydon ; these remained with 
us the whole of the gloomy summer ; from their actions and 
presence I suspected the probability of their nesting, a suspicion 
further strengthened by observing three young ones with them. 
(See July 9th). 
June 6th. An Avocet, which I did not see, but I can rely on 
my informant, dropped in amongst some Black-headed Gulls, and 
remained on Breydon for a few hours. 
June 19th. Lemon Sole, 8| ins. I ate it, but found it insipid 
and tasteless beside its common relative. 
June 21st. Grey Plover on Breydon. Was this a late bird, or 
an early return 1 
July 3rd. Two Greenshanks on the mudflats. Eight there on 
the 4th. 
July 9th, my entry reads as follows: — “ 1 am satisfied now that 
a nest of Greenshanks has been on or near the ronds on Breydon 
this year. Early this morning, five Greenshanks, three of them 
very evidently young ones, (their call notes were not pitched quite in 
the same strong key as their elders) were feeding on the flat a few 
yards off, in front of my houseboat. 
July 9th. Two young Divers, in all probability Colymbm 
septentrional is, for some days seen on Breydon. Same date I noted 
the return of the Lesser Terns, and one Common Tern ( Sterna 
fluviatilis). 
July was not altogether a happy month for outdoor work. Nor 
had the Swallows a comfortable time of it. On the morning of 
July 15th, at 6 a.m., I observed a few Blow-flies trying to warm 
themselves on the boarded fence of the refuse destructor. Two 
Swallows also noticed them, and kept continually flying up and 
down, under the shelter of the fence, picking oil' these insects. 
July 16tli. Myriads of young Herrings in the river. Length, 
If inch. Any bits of floating straw or refuse give them immense 
fun in flinging themselves over them : this exercise seems to please 
