Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/207

Rh I could not doubt ; there was no question about the chant ; I looked up, and round and round ; followed the sound, so to speak, with my eye ; but the songster was not to be seen : still I heard him, and still was he invisible ; until at last, I began to think I was present at the "rehearsal" of the Prince Fortunatus of the woodlarks. I went home with my curiosity unsatisfied as to the whereabouts of my well-loved songster. Two or three days after the mystery was solved. I was calling on a lady in the neigh- bourhood, and there, in a cage at her drawing-room window, hung the woodlark ; and merrily he sung as I sat by. The window in question was some fifty or sixty yards from the road in which I was walking when I first heard the note, but not to be seen from the road, through the intervention of a high wall. But still, though I, of neces- sity, changed our {i. e. mine and the bird's) relative positions whenever I moved, the sound ever seemed to be in the air above me. Now I have no theory to offer on this matter, I state the simple facts, and I daresay a hundred other observers can confiim them, if they do not think the task too trifling. I think that birds can produce some such effects at will. But I also suspect that some of them may be, or must be, ac- counted for on other grounds than the mere volition of the bird that produces them.—J.C. Atkinson; 7, Belvoir Terrace, Scarborough, April 3rd, 1846.

Avocet, Recurvirostra avocetta. The avocet is occasionally killed in spring, but is now a rare bird in Norfolk. It was formerly not un- common, and nested habitually in some of the marshy parts of the county. It is said that a colony which once bred in the marshes at Salthouse, was destroyed in order to obtain the feathers, for the pur- pose of making artificial flies.

Black-winged Stilt, Himantopus melanopterus. Has occurred in Norfolk several times, but is a very rare and uncertain visiter. We may remark, that the changes of plumage to which this bh*d is subject, appear to require further elucidation.

Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa melanura. Of occasional occurrence, chiefly during the months of spring and autumn. This species for- merly nested somewhat freely in the marshy parts of Norfolk, but has now very nearly ceased to do so.

Bar-tailed Godwit, Limosa rufa. Is found on our coast in the au- tumnal months in considerable numbers, and occasionally during all the other months of the year, but as far as we have ascertained has not been known to breed in the county. It is, however, sometimes