Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/140

108 about this time Mr. H. Pashley—to whom these Notes are, as usual, very much indebted—announced a marked migration of Sclavonian, Red-necked, and Great Crested Grebes, all driven by the frost to the open water of the harbour. Local observers were reminded of the influx of Red-necked Grebes in 1865, and the same desire was observed on the part of everybody to kill them! I believe the migration extended to Boulogne, on the other side of the Channel.

During January a drake hybrid between the White-eyed Duck and the Pochard was taken on Saham Toney mere, and was subsequently recognized by Mr. A.W. Partridge as the so-called Paget's Pochard. It is now alive at Keswick, and agrees very well with my father's specimens of 1845 and 1859, which, with others, are fully described in Suchetet's 'Oiseaux Hybrides,' pp. 152, 711. It has a yellow eye, the breast, instead of being black like a Pochard's, is a rich rufous, both head and neck the same, and a white bar on the wing not quite so distinct as in Mr. Wolfs plate in 'The Birds of Norfolk.'

2nd.— Quickly succeeding the Grebes, and from the same cause, flocks of Sky Larks were seen passing along our coast, escaping from the hard feeding-grounds inland, which after a fortnight's continuous frost and snow threatened them with starvation. At Sheringham, Beeston (H. Fitch), and Cromer numerous flocks were to be seen, winging their way S.E., and against the wind, no doubt as far as Yarmouth, where Mr. Patterson saw them, together with Fieldfares and Redwings, and on to the Suffolk coast.

3rd.—Sky Larks still coming over Yarmouth (Patterson).

4th.—Larks passing Blakeney, Cley, and Salthouse in thousands (Pashley), just as in January, 1879, when the same phenomenon was seen.

5th.—Larks still passing Cley.

8th.—Solitary Snipe shot near Cley (Pashley); an unusual date.

26th.—Wind strong. Egyptian Goose shot at Shadingfield (Daily Press).