OBSERVATIONS ON THE FAUNA OF NORFOLK, AND MORE PARTICULARLY ON THE DISTRICT OF THE BROADS, BY THE LATE REV. RICHARD LUBBOCK, M.A., Rector of Eccles. NEW EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS FROM UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS OF THE AUTHOR, AND NOTES BY THOMAS SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S., Honorary Secretary to the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society; ALSO A MEMOIR BY HENRY STEVENSON, F.L.S.; AND AN APPENDIX CONTAINING NOTES ON HAWKING IN NORFOLK BY ALFRED NEWTON, M.A., F.R.S., &c., AND ON THE DECOYS REPTILES, SEA FISH, LEPIDOPTERA, AND BOTANY OF THE JARROLD & SONS, LONDON & EXCHANGE STREETS; 1879. Gough Adds Norfolk 80117. INTRODUCTION. THIRTY years have passed away since Mr. Lubbock's 'Fauna of Norfolk' appeared, and if at that time it behoved "the guarded ornithologist often rather to speak as laudator temporis acti than with reference to the present time when he enumerated the birds of Norfolk," how much more is this the case now! The changes during the past thirty years have indeed been great, perhaps greater than during any like period in the history of our Island. Railways, steam draining mills, and improved cultivation have changed the quaking bogs, where once the Gull placed her procreant cradle, into green pastures where herds feed in safety; the "wavy swell of the soughing reeds" has given place to the bending ears of golden corn; and the boom of the Bittern, the scream of the Godwit, and the graceful flight of the glancing Tern, are sounds and sights altogether of the past. "Since I first began to sport, about 1816," writes Mr. Lubbock in a note made in 1847, "a marvellous alteration has taken place in Norfolk, particularly in the marshy parts. When first I remember our fens they were full of Terns, Ruffs, and Redlegs, and yet the old fen-men declared there was not a tenth part of what they remembered when boys. Now, these very parts which were the best, have yielded to the steam engine, and are totally drained—the marshes below Buckenham, which being taken care of were a strong-hold for species when other resorts failed, are now as dry as a bowling green, and oats are grown where seven or eight years back one hundred and twentythree Snipes were killed in one day by the same gun. The Claxton marshes, which formerly were almost too wet, are now INTRODUCTION. THIRTY years have passed away since Mr. Lubbock's 'Fauna of Norfolk' appeared, and if at that time it behoved "the guarded ornithologist often rather to speak as laudator temporis acti than with reference to the present time when he enumerated the birds of Norfolk," how much more is this the case now! The changes during the past thirty years have indeed been great, perhaps greater than during any like period in the history of our Island. Railways, steam draining mills, and improved cultivation have changed the quaking bogs, where once the Gull placed her procreant cradle, into green pastures where herds feed in safety; the "wavy swell of the soughing reeds" has given place to the bending ears of golden con.; and the boom of the Bittern, the scream of the Godwit, and the graceful flight of the glancing Tern, are sounds and sigits altogether of the past. "Since I first began to sport, about 1816," writes Mr. Labor in a note made in 1847, "a marvellous alteration is t place in Norfolk, particularly in the marshy parts. I remember our fens they were full of Terns, Kut and he legs, and yet the old fen-men declared there wa part of what they remembered when boys. Now the ven parts which were the have yielded to the s marshes below bir ng-hold for sure sa bowling gre s back one we wer e day by the ste je ly were almost we |