John Henry Gurney Jr.

“ It will be remembered that last year the autumn migration was very marked indeed, such exceptional visitors as the White-winged Tern, Greater Shearwater, Barred Warbler, Gull-billed Tern, Icterine Warbler, Bluethroat, Aquatic Warbler, Sabine's Gull, Greater Spotted Cuckoo, Pallas's Willow Warbler, Blackbreasted Dipper, and Red-breasted Flycatcher followed each other in Norfolk in bewildering succession, to say nothing of what occurred further along the coast. ”

“ Davenport has raised the question of Cuckoos sucking eggs, which, with so many good observers, ought to be definitely settled. To describe them as habitually sucking eggs by choice, as is occasionally done in popular books, is a little misleading, for their primary intent, it must certainly be conceded, is to remove, not to eat them. The Cuckoo's throat is very wide; and if in the operation of moving eggs from some Wagtail's nest an egg slips down, we have what in court would be called presumptive evidence that they by no means object to it. ”

“ The margins of the extensive pieces of water, called broads, in the south-eastern part of Norfolk, which are skirted with large tracts of reeds, are the favourite abode of this species: its nest is composed, on the outside, with the decayed leaves of the sedge and reed, intermixed with a few pieces of grass, and invariably lined with the top of the reeds in the same manner as the Reed Wren. It is not so compact a nest as the Reed Wren's; the eggs vary in number from four to six, pure white sprinkled all over with small purplish spots, rather confluent at the larger end ”

“ And now a few words on migration. Without doubt it is the wind and weather in Scandinavia which influence the start of the ordinary autumn immigrants, such as those we have referred to—Woodcocks, Blackbirds, Redwings, and Wood-Pigeons; but in the case of birds which set out from Eastern Russia it is different—e.g. the Greater Spotted Cuckoo, Macqueen's Bustard, and Yellow-browed Warbler. With them it must be the nature of the weather when they arrive in Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire which determines whether they halt or pass on. ”

“ These instances alone show how very much there is still to be learnt as to wind influence, and there is no better post of observation than our rounded seaboard for diligently noticing its bearing on migration. Migratory birds which come to Norfolk in autumn, flying against a west wind, as was the case with three of those here named, were not so numerous in 1896 as they have sometimes been. Such birds are undoubtedly always more in evidence than those which come across the North Sea, flying with an east wind. ”

“ A Crossbill can fly with a fir-cone in its mouth, which is one proof of the strength of those powerful mandibles, if, indeed, proof were wanted. My Crossbills favoured me with no music until Christmas Day, when for the first time one of them was heard to utter a loud chirp. When bought on July 6th they were in red male plumage; by Christmas Day one of them had become quite yellow, but the other two cocks had changed but little, though the brightness of their red had diminished since October. Bechstein says many are bred in aviaries in Thuringia, but never acquire the red colour in confinement. ”

“ Except in the vicinity of their nests, or when curiosity gets the better of them, they are shy and inclined to hide, but by their nests they give every opportunity for inspection as they flit across one mown space after another, betraying by their very anxiety the eggs which they wish to conceal.
They become still more unsuspecting when they have young, care for which causes many a bird to defy danger; yet they have much of that strange sense which we call instinct, and which tells them to creep to their well-hidden domicile, rather than fly to it in the presence of the enemy. ”

“ P. major is not an uncommon bird in Norfolk, and anyone may hear its rapid hammering, which is loudest in the spring, taking the place of the vocal love-song in other birds. It is much more seldom to be seen upon the ground than the Green Woodpecker, and is more of a fruit-eater, but does not feed on ants. I once had a nest in a plum-tree in my kitchen-garden, well within reach of the hand; another nest was in an alder, and a third one in a birch, the bark of which had many scratches on it made by the Woodpecker's claws. The eggs are glossy white ”

“ Another deadly robber of game-eggs is the Carrion Crow, but for all that I am glad to say they have again this summer nested by the river at Keswick, though not in their old plantation. We found the nest, which is always a large construction, with a very substantial foundation of thick sticks, and I think it is more cupshaped than a Rook's nest. A very few of these birds still keep to our river valleys, but before long they will be as extinct as the Raven. Mr. Caton Haigh tells me they are still abundant in Lincolnshire, as well as the Magpie, which is becoming very rare in Norfolk. ”

“ There is another class which is suffering greatly—I mean the marsh birds—which in the past have helped to render Norfolk Broads so attractive by their presence. This great diminution is no doubt in part due to the decreasing area of our Broads, most of which are gradually "growing up"; but still more owing to the number of river yachts and wherries which visit these attractive water-ways, and scare the birds, to say nothing of what has been done to compass their destruction by a well-known dealer in birds' eggs in the West of England. ”

“ The cock was quite the finest old male that has been seen in Norfolk for many a year, with grey wing-coverts, and a light tail and crown. The Marsh-Harrier's nest was nine inches in diameter and raised fourteen from the ground, but, as Mr. Bird remarked, as the rushes grew the nest would naturally continue to rise a little with them. It was composed of pieces of the "gladden" which grows all round (Carex or Juncus) , and a few dead hemlock stems from the marsh wall, with one large bramble, and a bit of rotten wood the thickness of a man's finger. ”

“ Field-Rats have been more abundant during the autumn of 1900 than for many years, and no wonder they increase when the gamekeepers systematically destroy nature's police. Persons may do great harm who spread poison in stacks for Mice, as Barn-Owls have been killed near Lynn with poisoned Mice. I have lately heard of two Barn-Owls caught in Rat-traps whilst in search of the very vermin for which the traps were set. In one case the steel-trap was so far down a Rabbit's hole (more than a foot) that it is a marvel how the Owl stretched its leg far enough in to be caught. ”

“ If there is any wind, they are not likely to show themselves, and this has been noticed in South Russia, for a wind which is enough to wave the tops of the reeds is enough to keep the Tits at the bottom. But when all is quiet they venture to the reed-tops, and, when concealed for a shot at Wild Duck, one has in this way sometimes the delight of being surrounded by an inquisitive little flock, and this is the time to study their engaging and active ways. ”

“ The nest is generally placed in a tuft of grass or rushes near the ground by the side of the water ditches in the fens, sometimes on the broken-down reeds, but never suspended between the reed stems in the manner of the Reed Wren. In the autumn they disperse themselves in little parties along shore, wherever there is an acre or two of reeds; during the winter months they feed entirely on the seed of the reed, and so busily employed are they in searching for their food that I have taken them with a fine bird-lime twig attached to the end of a fishing-rod. ”

“ A certain number of Russian and Eastern Asiatic birds probably pass over Norfolk and the east coast every autumn, for the most part by night, and at so high an altitude as to be beyond the limits of human sight. As they are not seen their presence is never suspected. Migratory phenomena of this sort only become apparent when brought within our ken by unsettled weather and sometimes fog, as clearly demonstrated by Herr Gätke in his long course of observations on Heligoland.
There is no migrant whose movements can be better observed than the Blackbird's. ”

“ I have seen a young one peep out long before it could fly properly, which a White Owl would never do, and the young ones are not infrequently picked up on the ground. One so found, which we caged, is now a fine bird, and every night and morning one of its wild relations comes and hoots outside the cage, but never brings the prisoner anything. ”

“ In Norfolk, Martins have oftener occurred in November and December than Swallows, probably because they sometimes have very late broods; and this may be the result of persecution by Sparrows, which has also tended to make them much less common than they used to be.
6th.—My young Barn-Owls are still in the first nest in the old elm, but perhaps it is only as a dormitory that it is used. The young, however, are always very slow in maturing, not being properly fledged for seventy days; they are invariably of different sizes, and they do not leave their nest-hole so soon as young Tawny Owls. ”

“ In August there was a large migration of Crossbills, which are not, strictly speaking, autumn migrants. September was far too mild to delay rare birds on passage, which, according to previous experience in open weather, pass over Norfolk; but the common immigrants generally come to us as much in fine weather as in foul, that is, those like the Blackbird, Grey Crow, and Shore Lark, which have no intention of going farther than England. ”

“ Young thinks they might be hatched, and even the young reared in confinement, by supplying the old birds with the pupæ of the common blow-fly, which he has found to answer with Siskins, and fresh ants' eggs would probably be useful. He kept one nearly five years. Mr. Lowne, of Yarmouth, a well known prize-taker at bird shows, reared six Bearded Tits from the nest on dry ants' eggs with hard-boiled egg well sieved, but they were pugnacious enough to pull each other's tails out, and had to be separated. ”

“ An Iceland Falcon is stated, in 'The Naturalist,' to have been shot in Lincolnshire during December; but there were remarkably few raptorial visitants to the east coast, the autumn being marked by an absence of Buzzards, though it is true I heard of two Hen-Harriers; and I one day saw six Kestrels near the sea (wind W.) . A Honey-Buzzard—the only one notified—occurred near Thetford in November (E.T. Daubeny) , but this is a species which in some seasons is no rarity.
The principal rarity to be mentioned is a Little Bustard in good winter plumage, which appeared in November. ”

“ The repeated occurrence of Shovelers in the winter has been already remarked. Mr. Southwell thinks they are increasing in summer, and certainly the number of egg-shells in a nest testify to their prolificacy. Of the seven Ducks which commonly breed in Norfolk, the Garganey Teal is the only one which is never seen in winter; yet Norfolk is far from being its northern breeding limit. I have seen as many as nine eggs in a Garganey Teal's nest, and eleven in a Shoveler's. ”

“ Southwell were driven to the shore by a high north wind. In Lincolnshire, as in Norfolk, Mr. Caton Haigh writes that the wind was persistently west and north-west, adding that up to the end of September it had been about the worst season he could recollect for migrants. With us the Rooks and Little Gulls seen by Mr. Southwell constituted the only autumnal movements out of the common, but Mr. Lowne observed an unusual number of Long-eared Owls in his district, though the season was very uneventful indeed, compared with many which I remember. ”

“ August.
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. ”

“ It has never been as tame as the Pochards, which will occasionally even take bread from the hand, and does not dive so much as they do, but has the same peak-like raising of the feathers on the crown. ”

“ A black egg of a Partridge† was laid near Fakenham, in a nest with other eggs of the ordinary colour (A. Digby) , very undersized, and literally quite black, with an olive tint and some faint specks at both ends. A Corn-Crake at Northrepps had eight eggs† on the railway embankment in a circle of hay-bents beneath a small Dock, and two Nightingales' nests† in St. John's Wort were very pretty. Mr. Southwell writes of five Ring-Dotterel's eggs in one nest on April 12th, one more than customary; and a Wild Duck's nest in a tree provokes the usual wonder as to how the young get down. ”

“ Assisted by the Jackdaws—an increasing species in the eastern counties—the rascals have also, in spite of shooting, been doing their best to let "the weather" into the farmers' barley-stacks by persistently pulling out great quantities of the top straw and much of the thatch for the sake of the grain underneath, which they contrive to do with the greatest skill, but more easily where a stack is made up of short rakings. ”

“ Bird found a Long-eared Owl sitting on five eggs among some brakes, which was remarkable after such a downfall of sleet and snow, much of which was still on the ground, and also from the circumstance of the nest being on the ground, the nests of this species which I have seen having always been in a tree, the silver-fir by preference. ”

“ A wind which the migrants (nearly always to be seen at Cromer arriving from the east) would have to fly against would delay nine-tenths of them until sunrise, or later, when they could be easily identified. Its velocity must be an important factor, and it would probably be found that they choose a high or low stratum, according as they are thereby enabled to minimize its power. By anchoring a boat at a measured distance of half a mile from the light-vessel, valuable notes might be further obtained on the comparative speed in flight of different species of birds as they passed along. ”

“ It never sits crossways, and each hammering only lasts a few seconds, but is very resonant. Probably it extracts the seeds, which are very small, by means of its long tongue—1·5 in. in length—which is furnished with a horny and no doubt glutinous tip; but I suppose it can only get them by this means when the cone is ripe, and the scales expanded. The tongue of a Woodpecker is indeed a singular organ, curiously adapted for its purpose, and is beset at the end with little barbs. When at work on its favourite branch its whole body swings with every blow, with such vigour are they given. ”

“ It is now several years since the Reeve has bred in Norfolk, in fact, not since 1889, when, walking over "Rush-hills," I found the nest, and was near treading on the four eggs. The last appearance, or rather re-appearance, of these birds in any quantity was in 1893, when for some reason there was an unprecedented passage of waders of all sorts through Norfolk. On May 24th of that year my correspondent, the Rev. M.C. Bird, observed more than twenty Ruffs and Reeves at their old home, some of the males with fine frills, a sight neither he nor any other naturalist is likely to see again. ”

“ The close-time ends rather too soon for Norfolk Terns, as on August 1st Mr. T.E. Gunn saw several eggs still lying about, and a good many young birds just leaving the nest; and on the 28th I was given a young one with down on its head. The Lesser Tern seems to leave Norfolk rather earlier than the Common Tern, and very few remain after Sept. 20th. I did not see any on the 28th, but there were several Common Terns left, and one Sandwich Tern. At the close of September, some, following the course of the river, came even as far inland as Norwich. ”

“ We read of great destruction caused by them to apple crops, but they do not seem able to work their way into an apple which is not on a bough, though they relish it if cut into small pieces, evidently liking the fruit part quite as much as the pips. Their power of sudden concealment in the tops of the fir trees, remarkable at first sight, is entirely due to their instinct in remaining quite still. ”

“ Of another species, the Spotted Crake, formerly very characteristic of the Broads, Mr. Bird, in a recent letter, writes:—"Spotted Rails have not been nearly so frequent of late years; one at Potter Heigham, on the 5th of October, is the only one I have heard of being shot for some time." It appears that up to twenty years ago Spotted Crakes were pretty numerous, but since September and October, 1881, when there was a migration, they have been steadily decreasing in East Norfolk (cf. Mr. Bird's notes, Zool. 1890, p. 457) . ”

“ A pellet generally contains two Mice, sometimes the bones of four, and it does not take very long for thirty or forty pellets to accumulate in a hole, and probably four times as many are ejected elsewhere. Many of the old Norfolk barns have "Owl-holes"—round holes at the top under the eaves—but now that the plan is to stack everything out of doors, and sell the grain when it is threshed, the Owls' services are not so much appreciated. ”

“ This Scandinavian race was first recognized in England in 1864 by the late Henry Stevenson.
11th.—We have a very late Barn-Owl's nest in an elm-tree in a hole in an arm four feet deep and a foot wide about, and how the old bird gets down to the young ones and then returns is somewhat of a mystery. Barn-Owls, like Wood-Pigeons, are distinctly irregular in their time of nesting. They generally make use of a tree, but a hollow arm is safer. Here they construct no nest, and any sticks which may be found are sticks which have been brought in by a former owner. ”

“ In few birds do the pupils dilate more, and in the sitting bird, when exhausted with the labours of incubation, they become almost white. The eyes get weak if they sit long in the sun; and if one eye is exposed to the light, and one is in the shade, one pupil is then much larger than the other. ”

“ Lambs are becoming general, and the young wheat, which is two inches above the ground, is about safe from the depredations of Rooks, which have an appetite for the kernel long after it has sprouted. Seed-corn must be drilled very deep to be safe from their long beaks, on account of which and other misdeeds very few Norfolk farmers give the Rook a good character. ”