which, after it was first disturbed, it was seen to enter seven or eight times.

A good many Short-eared Owls also put in an appearance during this month, and some, I understood, late in August. On the 15th a Peregrine was seen at Lower Heigham, flying direct for the city. Several Marsh Harriers were killed about Yarmouth on or about the 24th with the Buzzards; and a "blue-and-red Hawk," seen near the avenue at Northrepps on the same day, was probably an adult male Montagu's Harrier. On the 26th an adult female Peregrine was shot at Blakeney.

On the 13th of October four large Hawks, possibly Buzzards, were seen at Northrepps, apparently fighting in the air; the last, apparently, of the invading host. On the 10th an Osprey was shot at Flitcham, a Peregrine and an immature Hobby somewhere in the county on the 8th, and an immature Marsh Harrier at Yarmouth on the 15th. Probably the first Merlin of the season was shot from Breydon Wall on the 7th of November; and a Barn Owl, caught by a boy in a fence at Scratby, on the coast, was no doubt a migrant; it was dark in tint and much spotted. The first Roughlegged Buzzard of this winter put in an appearance at Somerton on the 5th, and another was shot at Flegg Burgh, also near Yarmouth, on the 22nd, and one close by at Fritton, in Suffolk, on the 15th; and an adult female Hen Harrier at Rollesby on the 26th.

The record of the year, raptorially, closed with the death of a fine young Sea Eagle (of course proclaimed as a Golden Eagle till satisfactorily identified), which was shot early in December, between Sedgeford and Holme-next-the-Sea, close to Hunstanton. One of these birds frequented for some days the park and lake at Kimberley in the autumn, but, thanks to the protection of the noble proprietor of the estate, remained unmolested till it voluntarily took its departure.

MIGRATORY WADERS.

The intense frost and deep snow-drifts from the middle to near the end of January were not favourable for Waders on Breydon, or any other part of the coast. Even Dunlins were scarce, and a few Sanderlings, Knots, and Golden Plover, with an occasional Godwit or two, were about all that the gunners brought in; but during the terrific gale on our east coast on the 18th, swarms of Snipe and Dunlin, as well

as wildfowl of various kinds swept down the coast on their passage southward. A Purple Sandpiper was shot at Yarmouth on the 19th, and a Green Sandpiper was seen about the same date at Taverham near Norwich. So soon as the frost began to break by the first week in February, our markets were full of Dunlins, Knots, Redshanks, an Oyster-catcher or two, and various wildfowl, all in wretched plight, and lots of Water Hens in a shocking state of emaciation, as one dealer remarked, "not worth picking up.' The Coots seeking the salt marshes suffered far less. Although in the hard weather scarcely as many Dunlins were shot on Breydon as have been killed occasionally at one discharge of a duck-gun, yet by the middle of February they appeared in large numbers, about two hundred in a flock, with some Ringed Plovers. Two Golden Plovers with partial black breasts, and a good flock of Redshanks were seen at Ranworth on the 18th of March. On the morning of the 2nd of April a flock of some two hundred Golden Plovers was seen at Castleacre, where large numbers had recently frequented the wheatfields, most of them assuming the black breast.

Amongst the spring migrants on Breydon during the first fortnight in May were two Turnstones, one Black-tailed Godwit, and several lots of Bar-tailed Godwits, and on the 14th a few Grey Plover, assuming summer plumage, one Greenshank, and a few Red Knots. From the 20th to the end of the month the tide of migration set in, and Breydon had its full compliment of Grey and Golden Plovers, Turnstones, Sanderlings, Pigmy Curlews, Oystercatchers, two or three Kentish, and many Ringed Plovers, one Greenshank, Dunlins, &c. Dunlins were still numerous on the 1st of June, a Greenshank was shot on the 11th, and large flocks of Redshanks appeared at the same time, and three Dotterel (morinellus) were seen on the North Beach on the 15th. Though not included amongst Waders, I may also mention here, several Black Terns in May. Turnstones and Dunlins still frequented the "muds" up to the 23rd of June.

The end of the "close time," August 1st, found Breydon again alive with Dunlins, Pigmy Curlews, Ring Plovers, Whimbrel, Curlews, Redshanks, and Common Sandpipers (eighteen were killed at one shot), of all of which species specimens were killed in the first week of the month. One Turnstone on the 20th, first

Knot 23rd, first Grey Plover 24th, two Knots on the 25th, and a Sanderling on the 27th. Common, Arctic, and Lesser Terns were very plentiful at this time, both on Breydon and the adjoining rivers.

The above Waders, with Oyster-catchers and Bar-tailed Godwits, the latter scarce, were met with throughout August and chief part of September. Amongst the rarer species may be noted a Spotted Redshank, shot on the 25th of August, and two others seen about that date; also three Greenshanks. Little Stints must have been extraordinarily plentiful, as between the 1st and 17th of September I have notes of thirty-four specimens shot on Breydon or close by, and two Temminck's Stints. Seven Sanderlings were killed between the 7th and 11th, and a solitary Woodcock appeared near Yarmouth on the 8th, and a Green Sandpiper on the 4th. Again on the 17th, five Bar-tailed Godwits were shot out of a small flock on Breydon, and two Greenshanks on the 22nd: these, and the Kentish Plovers, separately mentioned, exhaust my autumnal list. On the 2nd of November another Spotted Redshank was shot on Breydon South Wall, in winter plumage, a very Red (for time of year) Bar-tailed Godwit with but one leg on the 5th, and the same day a slightly Red Knot. On the 2nd and 4th very large flocks of Lapwings were seen going west at Northrepps. A Wood Sandpiper was killed on the 5th somewhere in the neighbourhood, and on the 19th a Purple Sandpiper on the beach.

DUCKS AND DIVERS. The commencement of 1881 was anything but a gunner's season, as the intense severity of the frost when it did come, and the deep snow which, drifted by the gales, filled roads and railway cuttings in many parts of the county, drove fowl and other birds, migrants and residents alike, to the southward for a time. My notes, therefore, under this head are but few.

Sheldrakes seemed to have had a bad time of it, and from the localities from which specimens were sent to our birdstuffers, I fear most of those that were shot were reared on our coast. A Scaup Duck was killed on the 11th as high up the River Yare as Thorpe Gardens; and on the 21st a male was picked up, exhausted and nearly buried in the snow, on the top of the Gas-house Hill, Norwich. Two or three good old males occurred

at Yarmouth about the same time, and a fine old male Golden-eye at Hickling on the 27th. Strange to say, when the weather was most severe, towards the end of the month I saw a male Shoveller, anything but a "hard-weather" fowl, in the Norwich fishmarket.

In February more old Scaups were met with on Breydon, and a female Velvet Scoter was also shot at Yarmouth on the 3rd. Pintails, Common Scoters, and other fowl appeared about the 10th and 11th, and by the 27th Duck and Mallard, Wigeon and Pochard were plentiful, and three mature Golden-eyes were shot at Somerton on the 26th. A few immature Merganzers and one or two Black-throated Divers were killed during the frost, but I saw none in good plumage.

At Ranworth on the 18th of March, Mr. J. H. Gurney, Jun., found a strange mixture of winter and summer fowl on the Broad, a pair of Golden-eyes and fifteen Tufted Ducks appearing with a male Shoveller and a Garganey, ten Common Teal, twenty Duck and Mallard, and a flock of Wigeon; the latter all male birds but two.

Shovellers were seen on Breydon, again, as early as the 1st of August, and several lots of this species appeared there on the 20th, with a few Sheldrakes. I have several notes of Gadwalls killed both on the coast and inland, in September and October, but as these birds breed in such large numbers* upon the meres of the Merton and Wretham estates, and in many localities in West Norfolk along the valley of the Nar, and disperse in autumn, it is impossible now to distinguish foreign arrivals.

An immature Long-tailed Duck, a female, was shot near Yarmouth on the 22nd of October, an early date for this species; and a few immature Red-throated Divers were shot both in October and November. In December a female Golden-eye on Breydon, with a few Pintail Ducks and flocks of Scoters at sea complete my notes.

* Sir R. P. Gallwey, in a most interesting paper in the Field' o May 12th, 1883, on "Fish and Fowl in West Norfolk," as observed on Lord Walsingham's estate at Merton, speaks of the number of Gadwalls on one private water alone being computed at fourteen or fifteen hundred.

XVI.

ADDITIONAL

LOCALITIES OF RARER NORFOLK PLANTS.

BY REV. E. F. LINTON, M.A.

Read 27th March, 1883.

Of the following plants, noticed by me during the past year, some are varieties new to the county; some are mentioned to fill up gaps in Mr. Geldart's four districts, and a few more to throw light upon the distribution of some of our rarest Norfolk plants. Those which are new county records are distinguished by an asterisk (*).

*RANUNCULUS ACRIS, LIN., var. TOMOPHYLLUS, JORD. On clay soil by the River Bure, Wroxham; a scanty supply.

ARENARIA LEPTOCLADOS, GUSSONE. Borders of Mousehold and Sprowston. Also on ruins at Thetford.

ALSINE TENUIFOLIA, CRANTZ. In abundance on a heath south of Thetford. Also in smaller quantity at Castleacre.

* SCLERANTHUS ANNUUS, LIN., var. BIENNIS, REUTER. Gravelly ground, Mousehold.

[HYPERICUM HIRCINUM, LIN.] Holkham Park, in large quantity. Introduced, I believe, by the late Earl of Leicester as cover for game; now thoroughly established.

TILIA PARVIFOLIA, LIN. One large old tree at the entrance to Sprowston Hall, said to have been planted on the day of the execution of Charles I.

* GERANIUM ROTUNDIFOLIUM, LIN. By a roadside, Thetford. This rare species has long been known in Suffolk; but has not, I believe, been found hitherto any further north. There is a fair quantity extending over more than a hundred yards of roadside.