Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/383

Rh —The Yellow Wagtail is only second to the Skylark in breeding numbers. Annually, at the beginning of April, a large number of these handsome birds visit us, and I have seen some scores of them dotted about the fens. Their bright yellow plumage very much resembles the blossom of the dandelion, which at that time abounds in the locality. I fail to see any decrease on the part of the Yellow Wagtail in the district.

—A pair or two of these nest on the fens, the majority taking to the uplands. I have taken some curious eggs of this species, and have on several occasions found their nests inhabited by a young Cuckoo. We have a liberal supply of Pied Wagtails in Norfolk.

—Pheasants breed all along the verge of the fens, and they seem to thrive and do well on these lowlands. Several breed amongst the tall grass by the side of the river Waveney.

.—Both the English and Red-legged Partridges nest on the fens, the former in numbers, the latter having very much decreased in the locality of late years. We have not a tithe of the number we had ten years ago.

A friend of mine in this neighbourhood commenced to make a collection of rare birds with his own gun. To give the readers of this Journal an idea of what Norfolk contains in the shape of avifauna, I will mention some of the rarest of the species he obtained, all shot within the last twenty years and within a few miles of my home; such as, Avocet, Spoonbill, Bittern, Scoter, Scaup, Shovellers, Smew, Gargany Teal, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Red-throated Diver, Common Arctic and Black Terns (a Sandwich Tern fell to his gun, but he failed to secure it), Little Gull, Pallas's Sand Grouse, Ring Ouzel, Woodlark, Grasshopper Warbler, and Pied Flycatcher. Besides many other waders, he also secured the following:—Curlew, Whimbrel, Golden and Grey Plovers in summer plumage, Turnstone, Sanderling, Little Stint, Temminck's Stint, besides a number of commoner species.

—The Landrail or Corn Crake is rather rare in the locality. Whilst shooting at Kessingland last September I saw several, probably collected near the sea-coast preparatory to migration. I shot a fine specimen of the Spotted Crake by the