504 
FAUNA AND FLORA OF NORFOLK : BIRDS. 
imperceptibly, at a considerable elevation, and along the normal 
route, and the flights for the most part pass on unrecognised ; 
“ in somewhat unsettled weather they may be in some degree 
quickened, but are still normal ; exceptionally heavy weather 
arrests all migration, and the barred-up stream is detained for 
a favourable opportunity ; its eventual release results in one of 
those ‘ rushes ’ with which dwellers on the East coast are so familiar, 
but which never fails to excite our astonishment” ( l.c . p. 252). 
Foggy weather, too, greatly embarrasses the migratory movements, 
causes the flight to be erratic, and the migrating hosts to wander 
from their proper course. Under these adverse conditions they 
linger where they alight, readily falling a prey to the many keen 
watchers who are expecting their arrival. We frequently experience 
a season of interrupted “rushes,” but seldom one of such continued 
arrivals of rare immigrants as characterised the autumn of 1896. 
The autumn of 1897 was a decided contrast to that of the pre- 
vious year ; August produced only a Pectoral Sandpiper and a Barred 
Warbler, and October a Tawny Pipit. August of the past year 
(1898) was only remarkable for a large flight of Crossbills, which 
reached us in the first week with a westerly wind ; and the usual 
stream of October immigrants, Kingfishers and Great spotted Wood- 
peckers in unaccustomed numbers, a flock of seventeen Bewick’s 
Swans on the 8th, and large numbers of Scaup Ducks on the 10th. 
Our friends in the further north, however, were more fortunate, 
a specimen of Badde’s Bush Warbler ( Lusciniola schwarzi ), a 
species new to Britain, was obtained on the Lincolnshire side of 
the Humber on the 1st of October. It will be noticed that in 
speaking of the wonderful influx of rare species, we only refer 
to the East and West route, as it was by that line of migration 
that we were indebted to most of the Central Europe and even 
Trans-Caspian species which visited us. 
One of the most interesting facts in Norfolk Ornithology, clearly 
showing the value of judicious protection, is the large increase 
both in the number of individuals and species of Ducks found 
breeding in the county. The Shmelev had long been known to 
nest sparingly in the “Broad” district; Hunt mentions it in 1815, 
and Sheppard and Whitear, Paget, and Lubbock successively refer 
to the fact ; Salmon was aware of its nesting at Stanford as early 
as the year 1826; but these facts do not appear to have been 
