Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/147

Rh son). In one case some were seen on ragwort plants (Gunn). During the first six days of August the wind was west, and it was probably then that they crossed, but on the 7th it was E.N.E. with rain; so it is not very easy to follow their movements, but they seem to be commoner in England than they used to be. Their customary tameness and cry of "gip gip" on the wing was most likely to attract attention, but the recent extension of our county close-time to Aug. 31st saved many, though one or two fell a prey to cats and stones, and one was recovered from a muddy creek. They were not so fortunate on the coast of Suffolk, whence Mr. Gunn received several to preserve, and Mr. Lowne, of Yarmouth, had thirty-two, chiefly red males; but the flight soon passed on. The Crossbill is, and always has been, an irregular bird in Norfolk, even from the days of Sir T. Browne. From 1869 to about 1891 very few indeed appeared, but since then there have been a good many strolling bands, for the most part in June, August, and September. It appears that the present "wave" flowed in other parts of England, the west especially. With regard to the female which bemired itself in a creek, it may have been wounded, as it did not live long. But I remember some years ago hearing of Crossbills which got into a sluice at Swaffham, probably to drink, when the soft mud was like bird-lime to their plumage, and soon led to capture.

18th.—A good adult female Ruddy Shelduck sent up from Yarmouth? (Connop), and an old male Pintail, but in "eclipse" as to plumage, caught by Mr. Partridge on Saham mere. This is the third time Mr. Partridge has had a Pintail on his mere as early as August, significant of these birds breeding somewhere on British soil, unless they were migrants, which is not likely. Pinioned Pintails formerly bred on the lake at Stanford.

N. wind fourteen days, S. wind seven days, W. wind seven days. Less than a quarter of an inch of rain in the whole month. The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th were very hot days, with a fine aurora on the 9th.

The Pheasants, impelled by drought, scraped the dusty soil off potato-beds, and ate considerable portions of the potatoes; and, where turnips were in proximity to their coops, in some