NATURE NOTES 
1 16 
117. Notes from Yarmouth.— Living as I do within a few minutes’ walk of 
the country, the e.xtensive sands, and the wide expanse of mud and water known 
as Breydon, I have exceptional opportunities of studying wild life in its various 
forms and seasons. The following comprises a list of occurrences which have 
come to my notice during the month of April : — 
Commencing with the morning of the 1st, I surprised three wimbrel feeding 
on the Hats, and they being too occupied in their search for food to notice me, 
I enjoyed a prolonged stare at them through my glasses. I heard the hooting 
of an owl at Burgh Castle that night, where the Vicar protects their nests in the 
church steeple. 
On the 2nd I got within twenty feet of a curlew, which was standing thigh 
deep in the fairly rough water of Breydon, and watched him for some time 
through my glasses. Every now and again he would give vent to a peculiar 
call, without apparently opening his long curved bill, a call that by reason of its 
weirdness had directed me to him. The curlew is a sharp flyer, as was evidenced 
when he unexpectedly caught sight of me. There were also six Brent geese 
feeding on the mud flats. These birds had dropped in during open weather — 
a rather unusual occurrence — soon after the shooting season, and they remained 
several weeks. A few ringed plover, hooded crows and rooks, completed the list 
on this date. 
Early on the morning of the 7th I noticed five herons, one curlew, only one 
pair of hooded crows, several black-backed, black-headed, common and herring 
gulls, scores of rooks and starlings, besides a few meadow pipits and skylarks. 
The herons were surrounded by gulls of various species, but the Brent geese 
which were still there, not having been disturbed, were feeding alone. In the 
afternoon of the same date I saw an almost white sparrow ; and two swallows 
on Breydon on the 14th. 
Mr. Patterson saw a spoonbill on Breydon on the 19th, and also informs me 
that a pair of jackdaws have nested in the steeple of St. Nicholas’ Church this 
spring. 
For the past week a missel-thrush has been delighting street audiences about 
town with his impromptu concerts from the vanes above St. George’s Church, 
the Town Hall, and the Baptist Chapel. These buildings stand in the centre 
of Yarmouth. 
On the 26th I purchased a crab with one of the “ nippers ” much smaller 
than the other, though perfect. Mr. Patterson is of opinion that the crab lost 
the original claw and the small one is a new growth. This is a rather unusual 
but not uncommon occurrence, as I have seen three other similar examples since. 
A very rare fish was sent to Mr. Patterson on the 28th by some unknown person 
in Wales, called the bellows fish, a full account of which appeared in the Daily 
Graphic for the 30th. 
103, Lichfield Road, Southtoivn, Roy A. Pike. 
Great Yarmouth. 
118. Sparrows at Covent Garden. — One would hardly think of calling 
Covent Garden a sylvan retreat — far from it. Yet a little after five o’clock one 
morning, quite recently, I was reminded of the fact that if one did not regard it 
as so, the sparrows could have a different opinion ? On entering the Flower 
Market a gay chorus of chirruping coming from the sparrows in the vicinity of 
the glass-covered roof greeted me. Quite a host of the little birds could be 
seen flying from one iron girder to another, to all appearances totally unconscious 
of their busy surroundings. What a sweet-smelling haven they had for their 
nests above the brilliant hues of the beautiful flowers beneath ! 
Carlyle Lodge, Chas. E. J. IIannett. 
Canonbuty Place, L.ondon, N. 
May 2. 
119. Gold Crests and Eggs. — On May 13 I found a gold crest’s nest 
sadly despoiled — the lining of feathers had been tom out, and five eggs at least 
lay broken on the ground, the shells in most cases being more or less complete, 
whilst the contents had been sucked dry ; one egg had been “ spitted,” in its fall, 
on a fir-needle on a lower branch, and it was the unusual sight of an egg suspenderl 
in mid air which first attracted my attention to the nest ; the white had, of course. 
