Ornithological occurrences, worthy of record, were unusually scarce during the first half of the present year, its commencement being characterized by an unseasonable mildness and excess of rain, alike prejudicial to the prospects of the sports- man and collector; whilst, later on, the penalties now in force under the "improved" Wild Fowl Protection Act have had a salutary effect in checking the slaughter of migratory species, and with a few notable exceptions, including an adult female Black Stork, a White Stork, and an immature Spoonbill, — all from the vicinity of Yarmouth, — I know of no "casualties" infringing upon the law, in Norfolk, either inland or on the coast.
Except in the fens of the south-western part of the county, Norfolk did not suffer to any great extent from the floods, which in January covered so large an area in Lincolnshire, Huntingdonshire, and even parts of Suffolk, but about Feltwell and Lakenheath the amount of water "out" caused great loss to the farmers; the seed- corn rotting in the soddened soil, mills stopped and many hands thrown out of employ, and still, day after day, the same leaden sky, and the rain came down, with but brief intervals of respite, till all was depression and slush ! At this time, though the rivers were full, the marshes of the eastern or "Broad" district of the county suffered but little, owing to the extreme lowness of the tides at Yarmouth and adjoining parts of the coast; but not so at the close of the month, when the fearful gales on the 29th and 30th, which caused such sad loss of life amongst our smacksmen in the North Sea, broke upon our shores, and lunar influences combined with the hurricane to raise the most destructive tide that has been known here for more than thirty years. The tidal streams which empty themselves into the sea at Yarmouth and Lowestoft overflowed their banks and inundated an immense tract of marshes, a considerable portion of which still remained submerged up to the middle of March, the shallow flood having a special attraction for Black- headed and Common Gulls and immense flocks of Lapwings. At Salthouse the tide broke through the sea embankment, and poured itself over the once-famous marshes at that spot, a former haunt of the Avocet.
