Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/122

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
96
THE ZOOLOGIST.

the 16th. It was said to have struck down a Partridge, and both birds were secured.

Hobby.—One shot this month at Fersfield, near Diss.

Common Buzzard.—One shot at Horningtoft on the 22nd.

October.

Little Stint.—Several shot at Salthouse during the first week in the month, and others on the 26th, from a flock of about forty.

Purple Gallinule.—A bird of this species, in full plumage, was shot on a stream near Pinckney, in West Norfolk, about the 10th of October: most probably an escaped bird, but a public notice of its fate in the local papers has failed to find an owner for it.

Mealy Redpoll and Siskin.—Several of these birds, which appeared altogether absent last autumn and winter, were netted near Norwich about the middle of this month, and I saw a single male Siskin which had been taken with some Lesser Redpolls as early as the second week in September.

Pigmy Curlew.—Several shot on Breydon during the first week of October.

Buzzards?—Two large Hawks seen at Northrepps on the 5th, supposed to be Honey Buzzards. A Rough-legged Buzzard was seen at the same place on the 30th.

Sky Larks Migrating.—A very large flock of these birds was seen at Northrepps going S.W. by W. on the 12th.

Magpie.—A single bird killed at Gresham, by Holt, on the 14th.

Peregrine.—A fine bird, in nearly adult plumage, was sent up to Norwich on the 30th.

Short-eared Owl.—A very unusual number of these autumnal migrants appeared in various parts of the county between the 20th and 31st of October, at which time I saw between twenty and thirty specimens in our birdstuffer's hands. One bird is said to have had the remains of a Great Snipe in its stomach.

Shore Larks.—These annual winter visitants, as they may fairly be termed now, on the Norfolk coast, made their appearance at Yarmouth this month in a large flock, of which five, three males and two females, were sent to Norwich on the 27th. Another flock is said to have frequented the beach and "backwater" at Salthouse.