Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/154

126 looking in the sky, detected large birds on our coast, two miles up, during the migratory period. If migratory birds travel at such heights, and by night, it may fairly be presumed that mountain chains and great rivers have little to do in determining their course; but this does not apply to Crows and Larks, which are seen in great numbers off Norfolk at quite a moderate altitude, and also Kestrels and Starlings. Indeed, Sky Larks may be sometimes seen flying so low over the sea that, as Gätke remarks, they almost adapt their flight to the undulations of the waves.

The past year has accorded Norfolk three novelties—the Aquatic Warbler, the Greater Spotted Cuckoo, and Pallas's Willow Warbler—which, with the Red-banded Crossbill (Supplement to the 'Birds of Europe,' and Zool. 3rd ser. vol. xiii. p. 391), bring the county list to 303. The Red-breasted Flycatcher, Icterine, and Barred Warblers are also very rare birds. The dates of the three Norfolk-killed Icterine Warblers are, in point of season, curiously close, viz. Sept. 11th (1884), Sept. 4th (1893), Sept. 7th (1896); and the four Norfolk Barred Warblers, Sept. 4th, Sept. 10th, Sept. 10th, and Aug. 31st. Gätke gives the former as rare in Heligoland, and the Barred Warbler as very rare, and does not mention a September occurrence of either of them. Both are found in Norway and Sweden, so there is nothing remarkable in their touching our east coast on the southward migration. Perhaps next year they will bring the Crested Titmouse with them, which has been identified in Norfolk already by two observers, Mr. Patterson and Mr. Spalding, in the former case on a small Scotch fir on the Caister road, not far from the sea.

Before beginning the diary for the year I wish to allude to another subject. I regret as much as any reader of this Journal can do, the repeated destruction of Spoonbills in the Eastern Counties which it is my lot to chronicle; but it must be conceded that the Breydon Wild Birds' Protection Society has more than justified its existence, as shown by the number of Spoonbills (besides some Avocets) which have visited this tidal broad and escaped since the appointment of our paid watcher nine years ago. In May, June, and July, 1888, thirteen Spoonbills (including six in one flock on June 3rd) came to Breydon. In the spring of 1889 our watcher saw three, and in 1891 two on June 14th, and one on the 20th which remained about, and was seen at intervals until July