satisfactory explanation of this great diminution in the numbers of the quail.
A nest containing eleven eggs, very recently laid, was taken in a grass field, near Yarmouth, on the 15th of last August.
Great Bustard, Otis tarda. We fear that this noble bird must now be considered as extinct in Norfolk, though it has only recently be- come so. It is perhaps doubtful, whether the bustard was at any time a very numerous species in this county. It is only twice men- tioned in the household accounts of the Lestranges,* kept in the reign of Henry VIII, and Sir Thomas Browne, a hundred and fifty years later, merely says that they "are not unfrequent in the champian and fieldy part of this county."
Little Bustard, Otis tetrax. The little bustard, has at different times occurred in this district, but must be considered as a very rare visitor.
Great Plover, Œdicnemus crepitans. A common summer visitant to the open sandy parts of the county, where it breeds about the end of May. It arrives in April, and departs towards the end of Sep- tember.
We have found the remains of the forceps of several earwigs in the stomach of one of these birds.
Collared Pratincole, Glareola torquata. Has occurred several times in this district, but only as a very rare and occasional visitant.
Golden Plover, Charadrius pluvialis. This species appears in Norfolk in the month of October, and is found occasionally in flocks throughout the autumn and winter months, with the exception, per- haps of occasional southward migrations in very severe weather.
Its northward migration takes place in May, and we have observed it in Norfolk as late as the 25th of that month, in the perfect plumage of the breeding season.
Instances are said to have occurred of the nesting of the golden plover in Norfolk, but as far as we have been able to ascertain, none of them have been well authenticated.
Dotterel, Charadrius morinellus. The dotterel occurs in small numbers in its migrations to and from its breeding grounds. It appears in the month of September, remaining but a short time, and returns in March. It seems to remain longer on its northward than on its southward migration, for we have noticed its occurrence so late as the 20th of May.
Household and Privy Purse Accounts of the Lestranges of Hunstanton, from
A.D. 1519 to A.D. 1578.
