Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/137

Rh himself between August 25th and October 10th, adding that he had heard of many others; and several were seen at Northrepps about that time.

29th.—W. A Green Woodpecker seen on the sea-wall at Cley by Mr. F.D. Power, not the first indication we have of this being an over-sea migrant; for, as Mr. Pashley reminds me, they are often seen on the brackish marshes, and he has himself flushed them from the creeks by the beach. Mr. Bird remarks that if Green Woodpeckers do not migrate they move about much more in Norfolk in autumn and winter than in spring and summer; and between September 2nd and November 29th he saw nine, all within four miles of the coast, and in places where they certainly do not breed. They are, however, like the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, very susceptible to frost, which means starvation for them. At the beginning of the year Mr. Lowne had a Green Woodpecker with a beak like a Crossbill, and not only was it crossed, but the longest mandible had attained the length of two and a half inches, and it is extraordinary how it maintained its existence.

31st.—S.S.W. Five Great Skuas seen on the coast by Mr. Long; and one of them, again, a few days afterwards, by Mr. Gunn. October is the usual month in which this fine Skua has visited Norfolk, and only one has been seen before in August. Mr. Connop has a splendid melanism of this species, quite equal to the one figured in Dresser's 'Birds of Europe.'

Wind west, thirteen days; wind north, twelve days; wind south, two days; wind east, two days.

4th.—W., light. A hybrid † between a Goldfinch and a Linnet, netted at Acle by a birdcatcher named George, has the wings of a Goldfinch, but the Linnet's plumage predominates in the breast, back, throat, and tail, and its note partakes of both (W. Lowne). It is a hybrid which has been several times bred in confinement, but the present one we are assured is a wild caught bird, and agrees fairly with the description in Macpherson's "Hybrid Finches" (Norw. N. Tr. iv. p. 368).

5th.—N.W., first frost. An immature Icterine Warbler † (Hypolais icterina)—the fourth that has been taken in Norfolk—shot