NATURAL HISTORY NOTES FROM YARMOUTH. 
79 
X. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES FROM YARMOUTH. 
By Arthur H. Patterson. 
Read 29 th March, 1910. 
1909. 
Thanks to the courtesy of Sir Savile Crossley, I visited Fritton 
decoy on January 1st. There had been some two or three 
days of sharp frost, and a good number of Wild Ducks had 
been captured, but on that date the frost had given, and the 
wild fowl — Mallard, Wigeon, and Tufted Ducks — were grouped 
in numbers in the “wakes” on the ice and on the margins of 
it, but they would not “ work.” They took no notice what- 
ever of the dog, so that the keeper contented himself by 
netting those that were leisurely feeding at the entrance to 
the pipes. Our total capture was thirty-one — Duck and 
Mallard and one male Tufted Duck. I have narrated my 
experiences, and a brief description of decoying as I saw it, 
in my recently published “ Man and Nature on Tidal Waters," 
pp. 11-18. 
On January 2nd a walk along Breydon walls resulted in 
my seeing 19 Geese, whose species I could not determine, 
a parcel of Tufted Ducks, Curlews, Grey Plovers, and Dunlins. 
On the same date there were very few wild fowl in the market ; 
a few Scaups, Tufted Ducks, and a Goosander comprised the 
principal birds there. Wild-fowl are brought less each year 
to market, as no dealer cares to buy on the remote chance of 
selling them. 
I saw a “ Grey ” Gull on January 5th, from whose nostrils 
a large hook depended, the nasal apertures being worn quite 
