[43] The Wheatear is here referred to; the name trogloditica would seem to be more appropriate in this country, having reference to its habits of nesting in "Cony borroughs," than that of ænanthe, as applied to it by those who knew it as frequenting the Continental vineyards. A name still, or recently in use in West Norfolk, is Cony-chuck.
Spermologus. [sic] Rookes wch by reason of the [in reason of crossed out] great quantitie of corn feilds & Rooke groues are in great plentie the yong ones are com̄only eaten sometimes sold in norwich market & many are killd for their Liuers in order to cure of the Rickets.
Crowes[44] as euerywhere and also the coruus variegatus or pyed crowe with dunne & black interchangeably they come in the winter & depart in the summer & seeme to bee the same wch clusius discribeth in the faro Islands from whence perhaps these come. [they are crossed out] and I have seen them [written above] very com̄on in Ireland, butt not known in many parts of England.
[44] The Crow (Corvus corone) is much less common in Norfolk than formerly, but it still nests here in a few scattered localities. C. cornix, the Hooded, Norway, Danish, or "Royston" Crow, is an autumn immigrant as of yore, but not especially from the Faröe Islands; both species (or forms as by some regarded) are immigrants from the east, but the latter, as a rule, occupies a more northern range than the former. The Raven (C. corax) is now a very rare visitor to Norfolk; it is probable that it last nested in this county in the year 1859. The Jackdaw, or Caddow, is common enough, but the Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus) is quite unknown in Norfolk. Although the Magpie must have been well known to Browne I find no mention of it in these notes.
Coruus maior Rauens in good plentie about the citty wch makes so few Kites to bee seen hereabout. they build in woods very early & lay egges in februarie.
Among the many monedulas or Jackdawes I could neuer in these parts obserue the pyrrhocorax or cornish chough with red leggs & bill to bee com̄only seen in Cornwall. & though there bee heere very great [num crossed out] store of partridges yet [not crossed out] the french Red leggd partridge[45] is not to bee met with [heere crossed out]. the Ralla or Rayle[46] wee haue counted a dayntie dish. as also no small number of Quayles. the Heathpoult[47] com̄on in the north is vnknown heere as also the Grous. though I haue heard some haue been seen about Lynne. the calandrier or great [Fol. 19] great [sic] crested lark Galerita I haue not met with heere though with 3 other sorts [of Larkes written above] the ground lark woodlark & titlark.
[45] The Red-legged Partridge is now common enough; it was introduced into the Eastern Counties at Sudbourne and Rendlesham, in East Suffolk, in or about the year 1770, by both the Marquis of Hertford and Lord Rendlesham. How quickly they established themselves may be judged from the fact that in the season of 1806-7 of 1,927 Partridges killed at Rendlesham 112 were Red legs, but they do not seem to have spread very far. A second introduction, this time into West Suffolk, much nearer to the Norfolk border, at and about Culford, was effected in the year 1823, and from this centre they rapidly spread into Norfolk, in which county also others were imported by the resident proprietors.
[46] The Land Rail (Crex pratensis) or Daker hen, is doubtless here referred to, as the Water Rail has already been mentioned ([p. 15] ante) as "a kind of Ralla aquatica." This bird is a summer visitor, by no means common and very uncertain in its numbers. The same applies to the Quail, which appears to be less frequent than formerly, no doubt from the great destruction on the Mediterranean coast in spring of the birds migrating to England. In the summer and autumn of 1870 we had an unusual influx of these latter birds.
[47] How far the indigenous race of Blackgame, which undoubtedly lingered for many years about Wolferton and Sandringham, still exists, it is difficult to say; examples turn up occasionally, but so many of these birds have been introduced and turned off in different parts of the county in the course of the past forty years, that it is impossible to speak with certainty.
Stares or starlings in great numbers. most remarkable in their [great crossed out] numerous [written above] flocks [about the crossed out] wch I haue obserued about the Autumne when they roost at night [up crossed out] in the marshes in safe place upon reeds & alders. wch to obserue I went to the marshes about sunne set. where standing by their vsuall place of resort I obserued very many flocks flying from all quarters. wch in lesse than an howers space came all in & settled in innumerable [quantitie crossed out] numbers [written below] in a small compasse.