Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/125

Rh tions in this way, were spoilt possibly by the same larvæ. Very few birds except the Cuckoo will eat the "woolly bear."

4th.—A considerable number of Great Crested Grebes seen on Ormesby Broad by the members of the Yarmouth Naturalists' Society, who are anxious to have them protected. Ormesby and Filby Broads were always a favourite haunt for Grebes, and I have seen a great many sometimes on Fritton lake.

21st.—A Caspian Tern, watched by Messrs. Patterson, Eldred, and Jary, fishing and plunging vigorously into the shallow water on a part of Breydon called "Rotten-Eye." The next day it was watched again, and was seen to capture an eel, after which, thanks to protection, it passed on. The wind at the time was W.N.W., light, with some fog, and the day before E.N.E., and the evening before that E. It is on this great tidal Broad that most of the British captures of Sterna caspia have taken place, but we have not had one to record since 1862.

29th.—E., fine. Two Green Sandpipers at Intwood stream (cf. Zool. 1899, p. 122); at Hanworth also from two to five have been repeatedly seen during the summer, but as yet no Norfolk naturalist has succeeded in finding a nest.

30th.—S.E., fine. An Avocet on Breydon Broad (Jary).

4th.—My keeper lifted a Partridge off her nest, and, after testing the five eggs to see if they were fertile, put the bird gently back, without her resenting being handled, and the eggs afterwards hatched. Perhaps the Partridge was a hand-reared one, which would in part account for its tameness. I also had a nest in a stack, but, fearing accidents, hatched the eggs under a hen. Partridges are apt to be tiresome on a newly-sown bean-field, for not only do they attack the seed in May, but also eat the young plant when it is about an inch above the ground.

9th.—W. The Avocet still on Breydon muds, with Curlew, Whimbrel, Redshanks, Knot, Dunlin, and Ring-Dotterel (Jary).

12th.—About this date two Garganey Teal were shot near St. Bennet's Abbey, as well as a Shoveler and a Common Teal;