( 279 ) Ornithological Notes from Norfolk for 1924. In

( 279 ) ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORFOLK FOR 1924. BY B. B. RIVIERK, F.R.C.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. IN presenting my report on the Ornithology of Norfolk for the year 1924, I again acknowledge with grateful thanks the valuable assistance I have received from a number of correspondents who have sent me notes. I have also to record, with very deep sorrow, the loss of two most valued contributors to these notes in the Rev. Maurice C. H. Bird of Brunstead, who died on October 18th, 1924, in his sixty- eighth year, and in Mr. H. N. Pashley of Cley, who died on January 30th, 1925, in his eighty-first year. The past year was chiefly notable for the extraordinary number of wild fowl which visited our coasts during January and February, and for the record bags of Woodcock which continued to be made up to the end of the 1923-24 shooting season. Of these two remarkable immigrations I have already written elsewhere (Trans. Norf. <& Norwich Nat. Soc, Vol. XL, pt. v., 1923-24), so that I shall only refer to them more briefly in these notes. The winter of 1923-24, which was a long and bitterly cold one, may be said to have begun at the end of the first week of November, and lasted well into March. The first two weeks of January were marked by frosts and blizzards, a particularly severe blizzard from the S.E. occurring on the night of the 8th, whilst from February -12th until the end of the month snow fell nearly every day, the thermometer on February 29th registering 120 of frost, and another heavy snowfall occurring on March 3rd. The great rush of wildfowl appears to have taken place during the first fortnight of January, and although no unusual numbers of ducks were reported from inland waters, it must be many years since such a rich harvest was reaped by gunners on the marshes and estuaries of the coast. Mr. A. F. Sherlock, and Allen the Breydon punt-gunner, who spent those two weeks on Breydon, both told me that in all their experience, dating back some twenty seasons, they had never before seen anything approaching the number of "fowl"—chiefly Wigeon—which were there, though, owing to the quantity of ice and the persistent high winds, they were unusually difficult to approach. 280 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. xvm. At Hickling, Salthouse, Cley and Blakeney it appears to have been the same. I was at Cley on January 13th, and the flooded marshes were then covered with duck, including hundreds of Pochards, with Wigeon, Mallard, Teal, Tufted Duck, Pintails and Shoveler. Pintails occurred in unusual numbers for Norfolk, twelve being killed during the season at Cley, two by Mr. Sherlock on Breydon on January 12th, whilst Mr. Gunn the taxidermist received five or six more. " Hard- weather ducks "—Scaup and Goldeneye—were well repre sented, some very fine adult drakes of the latter species being killed early in January. Goosanders were numerous, Miss Turner reporting a flock of sixty on Hickling Broad during the second week of February, whilst I have records of seven being killed in other parts of the county. Smews were also much in evidence, and I knew of six having been obtained including two adult drakes. Unusual numbers of Black-throated Divers were also met with, one taxidermist having received four, and another three, since Christmas. In contrast with our last hard winter of 1921-22, very few Grebes, however, seem to have put in an appearance. Mr. Sherlock obtained a Black- necked Grebe on January 5th on Breydon. Mr. Pashley received a Red-necked from Cley on February 16th, and Mr. Saunders a Slavonian on February 23rd, and these were the only ones which were reported to me. A fresh arrival of Wild Swans took place early in January, thirty-six Whoopers being seen by Major Trafford to fly over Wroxham Hall, travelling from east to west on January 2nd, whilst on the 4th E. Ramm watched a herd ot forty-six Bewick's Swans flying in the same direction at Cley. A mixed herd of both species arrived on Hickling Broad early in the month, where, orders having been given for their protection, they remained until the middle of March, and afforded Miss Turner the opportunity of obtaining some very remarkable photographs of them both swimming and upon the wing. On Air. A. W. Cozens-Hardy's marsh at Cley the total bag of ducks for the season was 768, consisting of eleven species in the following numbers : Teal, 356 ; Mallard, 188 ; Wigeon, 62 ; Sheldrake, 47 ; Pochard, 43 ; Shoveler, 41 ; Pintail, 12 ; Tufted Duck, 9; Gadwall, 4; Goldeneye, 4; Scaup, 2. At Fritton Decoy, Major the Hon. F. Crossley informs me, the total take of ducks from December 23rd, 1923, to January 18th, 1924, was 1,924, these being practically all Mallard. As recorded in my notes for 1923, large flights of Woodcock arrived in Norfolk during December, and some very big bags VOL. xrai.] ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 281 were made upon the coast during this month and throughout January, 1924. The curious feature of this immigration was that no good days were recorded from any inland shoots. In fact, at Swanton Novers, near Melton Constable, the most celebrated Woodcock covert in Norfolk, although the total bag for the season was 134, this was the worst season within the memory of Mr. Sharpe the head keeper. Upon shoots situated in the vicinity of the coast, however, some very large bags were made, and many previous records broken. At Somerleyton the total up to January 18th was 215 Wood cock, this being a record for the shoot, the largest number killed in one season previously being 196 (Major Hon. F. Crossley). At Holkham, the total for the season was 208, the best day being 32 on December 27th (A. E. Tower). At Snettisham 164 were killed, this also being a record for the shoot, the best day being 52 on January 21st (Lycett Green). Other good one-day bags recorded were Stiffkey, 31 on December 27th (Col. Groom); Cley, 26 on January oth (Cozens- Hardy) ; Northrcpps, 28 on January 4th ; Trimingham, 41 on January 7th ; Gimingham, 30 on December 24th ; Trunch, 21 on December 27th (G. Davey); Homing.. 21 on December 28th (J. Habgood), and Mautby, 27 on December 19th (W. Cook). SPRING MIGRATION. Save for the unseen arrival of our summer visitors at their appointed time, and the presence for short periods upon our coasts of various passage-migrants of the Wader family, spring migratory movements in Norfolk are but little observed, because they arc so little in evidence. There is a well-known annual spring movement along the coast-line from west to east of Hooded Crows and other Corvidcs, and the departure of a few of these birds across the North Sea, usually from the neighbourhood of Yarmouth and Lowestoft, which is occa sionally seen, together with that of a few flocks of Starlings, Sky-Larks and Finches, is the only evidence we have of any return spring movement to north and east, and only represents a very minute fraction of the countless hordes of birds which arrive upon our coasts from northern and central Europe in the autumn. I believe the most probable explanation of this phenomenon is that the vast majority of our autumn immigrants are passage-migrants, which pass through England and cross the Channel, and that they return to their breeding quarters by another route, possibly via the western coast line of France, Belgium, Holland and Denmark. If there is little to be seen of a departure from our coast in spring, there is rather more evidence suggesting an arrival 282 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XVUU at this period of the year. On many days throughout May, the Sueda bushes on Cley beach and elsewhere along the coast line are full of Warblers, Flycatchers, Wheatears, etc., and although in the case of these small birds it is impossible to say where they have come from, one can only say that their behaviour is exactly the same as upon their arrival from across the North Sea in September. In the case of birds which migrate by day, such as the HirundinidcB, however, m.ore can be learnt, and, as I have already pointed out (Brit. Birds, XL, p. 66). Swallows pass along the Norfolk coast-line in equally large numbers, following exactly the same route from east to west, and turning down the south-east shore of the Wash, both in autumn and spring. It is perhaps at first sight somewhat puzzling to find the same species of birds arriving upon the Norfolk coast and travelling in the same direction both in spring and autumn, but the fact that they do so is confirmed by a careful study of the spring records from lighthouses and lightships off the Norfolk coast in the B.O.C. Migration Reports, from which it will be seen, in the case of daylight migrants such as Corvidce,. Sky-Larks, Starlings, Finches, and occasionally the Turdidce,. where the direction in which the birds are flying is stated, that although there is a definite spring migration from the Norfolk coast across the North Sea from west to east, there is an equally large movement of the same species towards the coast from east to west (see also Brit. Assoc. Rpt. on Migration, V. (1883), p. 60). Evidence of a spring passage across the North Sea was. afforded this year by the following birds which, Mr.

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