Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk Part 2

Goshander,[19] merganser.

[19] This evidently refers to the Goosander, which as he says in another place most answers to the Merganser.

Mergus acutirostris speciosus or Loone an handsome & specious fowle cristated & with diuided finne feet placed very backward and after the manner of all such wch the Duch call [a.s.sf _struck out_] Arsvoote.[20]

they haue a peculiar formation in the leggebone wch hath a long & sharpe processe extending aboue the thigh bone [it _struck out_] they come about April & breed in the broad waters so making their nest on the water that their egges are seldom drye while they are sett on.

[20] This well describes the Great-crested Grebe, which Browne rightly says comes to us about the month of April. Browne notices the peculiar formation of the tibia in this family of birds, but it had long been known. The next, named _Mergus acutirostris cinereus_, is most likely the same species in winter plumage. The other birds mentioned are Mergus minor, the Little Grebe or Dabchick, and _M. serratus_, the Red-breasted Merganser, even now known as the "Saw-bill."

Mergus acutarostris cinereus [another d _struck out_] wch seemeth to bee a difference of the former.

Mergus minor the smaller diuers or dabchicks in riuers & broade waters.

Mergus serratus the saw billd diuer bigger & longer than a duck distinguished from other diuers by a notable sawe bill to retaine its slipperie pray as liuing much upon eeles whereof we haue seldome fayled to find some in their bellies.

Diuers other sorts of diuefowle more remarkable the mustela fusca & mustela variegata[21] the graye dunne & the variegated or partie coloured wesell so called from the resemblance it beareth vnto a wesell in the head.

[21] The Smew, male and female, or either in the immature plumage are here referred to.

[_Fol. 12._[I]] many sorts of wild ducks[22] wch pa.s.se under names well knowne unto the fowlers though of no great signification as smee [wige _struck out_] widgeon Arts ankers n.o.blets.

[I] Fols. 10 and 11 are (10 written on both sides) on the "Ostridge," _vide_ Wilkin, Vol. 4, p. 337-9. The paper is a different size, 11-1/2 by 7-1/2, and the article is evidently bound out of place.

[22] The local names of the various Ducks are simply legion and differ both in time and place, not to mention the confusion occasioned by s.e.x and season when these birds were not so well understood as at present. Many such names are quite lost, as "Ankers" and "n.o.blets," but the following are a few examples: Adult Smew, White Nun; female or immature Smew, Wesel Coot; the Wigeon was known as the Smee, Whewer, or Whim; the Tufted Duck, Arts or Arps; the Gadwall, Grey Duck or Rodge; the Pochard, Dunbird; the Shoveller, Beck or Kertlutock (Hunt); Pintail, Sea Pheasant or Cracker; Long-tailed Duck, Mealy Bird; Golden Eye, Morillon or Rattle-wing; Scaup, Grey-back, and on Breydon White-nosed Day Fowl; Scoter, Whilk; Velvet Scoter, Double Scoter (Hunt); Teal, Crick; Garganey, Summer Teal, Pied Wigeon, Cricket Teal; other names might be mentioned, and some will be found in the notes which will follow. _Anas platyrhincus_ here mentioned is the Shoveller. It may seem strange that the abundance of Teal should in any way be attributed to the number of Decoys, but such was really the case, the quiet and shelter afforded by these extensive preserves being very favourable to the increase of all the members of the Duck family, especially to those breeding in their immediate neighbourhood. In the returns of the old Decoys, Teal figured largely; in the present day they form a very much smaller proportion of the spoils.

the most remarkable are Anas platyrinchos [_sic_] a remarkably broad bild duck.

And the sea phaysant holding some resemblance unto that bird [in the tayle _crossed out_] in some fethers in the tayle.

Teale Querquedula. wherein scarce any place more abounding. the condition of the country & the very many decoys [mo _struck out_]

especially between Norwich and the sea making this place very much to abound in wild fowle.

fulicae cottae cootes[23] in very great flocks upon the broad waters. upon the appearance of a Kite or buzzard I have seen them vnite from all parts of the sh.o.a.re in strange numbers when if the Kite stoopes neare them they will fling up [and] spred such a flash of water up with there wings that they will endanger the Kite. & so [es _struck out_] keepe him of [in of _struck out_] agayne & agayne in open opposition. & an handsome prouision they make about their nest agaynst the same bird of praye by bending & twining the rushes & reeds so about them that they cannot stoope at their yong ones or the damme while she setteth.

[23] In the present day the Coots have nothing to fear from Kites and little from Moor Buzzards; it may be that it is in consequence of this that they have discontinued the practice of twining the rushes and reeds above their nests in the manner mentioned above as being an unnecessary precaution. I have, however, in some cases noticed some approach to this practice. The Coot, although fairly numerous on the Broads, appears to be far less so than formerly.

Lubbock, in his "Fauna of Norfolk," says on asking a Broadman how many Coots there were on Hickling Broad, his reply was, "About an acre and a half," referring to their practice of swimming evenly at regular distances from each other without huddling together in dense ma.s.ses, like wild-fowl.

I am indebted to Professor Newton for the following additional note on the Coot. He says "Turner, and after him Gesner, was puzzled as to what was the _Fulica_ of cla.s.sical writers (Virgil and others), and thought it to be some kind of Gull; but the _Fulica_ of later authors was certainly the Coot, as shown by Gesner's figure."

Gallinula aquatica[24] more hens.

[24] Moor-hens are of course numerous in all suitable localities, and the Water Rail is still fairly common, but its eggs have a market value and are (or were) sadly stolen; a few years ago a London dealer is said to have received over 200 eggs of this bird in one season from Yarmouth.

And a kind of Ralla aquatica or water Rayle.

[_Fol. 13._] An onocrotalus or pelican[25] shott upon Horsey fenne 1663 May 22 wch stuffed and cleansed I yet retaine it was 3 yards & half between the extremities of the wings the chowle & beake answering the vsuall discription the extremities of the wings for a spanne deepe browne the rest of the body white. a fowle [not found _struck out_] wch none could remember upon this coast. about the same time I heard one of the kings pellicans was lost at St James', perhaps this might bee the same.

[25] There is every reason to believe that a species of Pelican, probably from its size _P. crispus_, was formerly an inhabitant of the East Anglian Fens; its bones have been found in the peat on three occasions, one of these being the bone of a bird so young as to show that it must have been bred in the locality, and therefore that the species was a true native and not a casual visitant. Bones of a species of Pelican have also been found in the remains of lake-dwellings at Glas...o...b..ry, in Somersets.h.i.+re.

With regard to the species of the bird recorded by Browne and its origin, he is careful to point out that a Pelican had about that time escaped from the King's collection in St. James' Park, and to surmise that it might be the same bird; from what follows this seems probable, but as _P. onocrotalus_ is believed to stray occasionally into the northern parts of Germany and France ("Dict.

of Birds," p. 702) the occurrence of that species on the East Coast of Britain, where, even at present, it would find a state of things in every way suited to its requirements (guns excepted), would not be very extraordinary. Browne's Pelican was killed in May, 1663, and although Dr. Edward Browne visited St. James' Park in February, 1664, and saw "many strange creatures," including the Stork with the wooden leg (mentioned by Evelyn), he says nothing of the Pelicans, still it may be that it was from him that his father heard of the escape. Evelyn, in his Diary, mentioned that he visited St. James' Park on February 9th, 1665, and speaks of only one Pelican, which he states was brought from Astrakan by the Russian Amba.s.sador as a present to the King; Willughby says distinctly that the Emperor of Russia sent the King two Pelicans, and further, that he took the description in his "Ornithology" from a bird in the Royal Aviary, St. James' Park, near Westminster; it seems therefore highly probable that Browne's bird was one of these which had escaped from confinement. But a rather curious circ.u.mstance arises out of this, the bird described by Willughby does not appear to be _P. onocrotalus_, but a similar species, _P.

roseus_, found chiefly in Indio-China and westward to South-eastern Europe, but occurring as far west as the River Volga ("Cat. of Birds," B. M., xxvi., p. 466). In this Mr. Ogilvie Grant, the author of that section of the Catalogue, whom I consulted, agrees with me, and the locality whence the birds were derived, mentioned by Willughby, renders not unlikely. Onocrotalus in Browne's time was a general term for "the Pelican," and he probably knew but one species and one individual, the escaped bird from Charles II.'s Aviary. Browne's very miscellaneous collection was destroyed by the authorities at the time of the plague (see ninth letter to Merrett), and probably the remains of this Pelican perished with the rest.

Anas Arctica clusii wch though hee placeth about the faro Islands is the same wee call a puffin co[=m]on about Anglisea in wales & sometimes [for _struck out_] taken upon our seas not sufficiently described by the name of puffinus the bill being so remarkably differing from other ducks & not horizontally b.u.t.t meridionally formed to feed in the clefts of the rocks of insecks, sh.e.l.l-fish & others.

The great number of riuers riuulets & plashes of water makes hernes [to abound in these _struck out_] & herneries to abound in these parts. yong hensies being esteemed a festiuall dish & much desired by some palates.

The Ardea stellaris botaurus, or bitour[26] is also co[=m]on & esteemed the better dish. in the belly of one I found a frog in an hard frost at christmas. another I kept in a garden 2 yeares feeding it with fish mice & frogges. in defect whereof making a sc.r.a.pe for sparrowes & small birds, the bitour made s.h.i.+fft to maintaine herself upon them.

[26] This is one of the birds once common enough in Norfolk, which in the present day is only a winter and spring migrant. The last eggs of the Bittern were taken in this county on 30th of March, 1868; the last "boom" of a resident was heard in May, 1886, in the August of which year a young female was killed at Reedham with down still adhering to its feathers; this was probably the last Norfolk-bred Bittern. In the "Vulgar Errors," book 3, chapter xxvii., section 4, is a discourse on the "mugient noise" of the Bittern and the mode of its production, and in a foot-note in the same place is a curious anecdote ill.u.s.trating the difficulty of detecting a wounded Bittern, even when marked down in short, recently mown gra.s.s and flags. The spring cry of the Bittern is mentioned by Robert Marsham in his unpublished journal nineteen times, between the years 1739 and 1775, as first heard at Stratton Strawless, generally between the 15th of March and the 15th of April; and it was on the 14th of the latter month that Benjamin Stillingfleet records it in the "Calendar of Flora" as heard in the same locality in 1755. He does not describe the note, but uses the words "makes a noise." Marsham, however, on one occasion, in 1750, a very early year, records it on the 20th of February. As a once familiar sound, but one which will probably never again be heard here under purely normal conditions, these dates seem worthy of recording.

[_Fol. 14._] Bistardae or Bustards[27] are not vnfrequent in the champain & feildie part of this country a large Bird accounted a dayntie dish, obseruable in the strength of the brest bone & short heele layes an egge much larger then a Turkey.

[27] The last of the Norfolk and therefore certainly the last of the British-bred Bustards, was killed in May, 1838; those which have since occurred in this country were Continental immigrants. An exhaustive history of the extinction of this bird will be found in Stevenson's "Birds of Norfolk," vols. 2 and 3. The Bustard, although found in some numbers, a.s.sociated in small flocks or "droves" in the few localities which it frequented in Great Britain, was probably never a very numerous species. The following extract from one of Browne's letters to his son Edward, dated April 30th, and written probably in 1681, shows that he was on the verge of discovering an anatomical peculiarity in this family of birds, which in after years gave rise to much controversy. He says, "yesterday I had a c.o.c.k Bustard sent me from beyond Thetford. I never did see such a vast thick neck: the crop was pulled out, b.u.t.t as [a] turkey hath an odde large substance without, so hath this within the inside of the skinne, and the strongest and largest neckbone of any bird in England. This I tell you, that if you meet with one you may further observe it." The presence of a gular pouch in the Bustard was first demonstrated by James Douglas, a Scotch Physician, in 1740, and it appears to be fully developed only in the adult male bird, and at the breeding season. Hence, although it has undoubtedly been found on several occasions, the frequent unsuccessful searches for it under unfavourable conditions led to much scepticism as to its existence. The use of this singular appendage is still a moot point, but it seems probable that it has to do with "voice production," and a.s.sists in the remarkable "showing off" exhibited by the male bird in the breeding season.

Pennant, in his "British Zoology," 1768, i., p. 215, gives a sentimental account of its use, and an exaggerated estimate of its proportions. In the Tables of Dietary referred to at p. 6 (note) _ante_, the Bustard is mentioned as in season from October to May.

Morinellus or Dotterell[28] about Thetford & the champain wch comes vnto us in september & march staying not long. & is an excellent dish.

[28] The Dotterel visits us much as in Sir T. Browne's time, but in decreased numbers. The Sea Dotterel which Wilkin supposes to be the Ring Plover, is undoubtedly the Turnstone. Willughby says, "Our honoured Friend, Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich, sent us the picture of this bird by the t.i.tle of the Sea Dotterel." This is also mentioned in the fifth letter to Merrett. See "Birds of Norfolk,"

ii., p. 82, for an interesting account of Dotterel hawking near Thetford by James I. in the year 1610.

There is also a sea dotterell somewhat lesse b.u.t.t better coloured then the former.

G.o.dwyts taken chiefly in marshland, though other parts not without them accounted the dayntiest dish in England & I think for the bignesse, of the biggest price.

Gnatts or Knots [only so far on p. 14, but as follows on fol. 13 _verso_].

Gnats or Knots a small bird which taken with netts grow excessively fatt. If [by mew _struck out_] being mewed & fed with corne a candle lighted in the roome they feed day & night, & when they are at their hight of fattnesse they beginne to grow lame & are then killed or [else they will fall aw _struck out_] as at their prime & apt to decline.

[resume p. 14.] Erythropus or Redshanck a bird co[=m]on in the marshes & of co[=m]on food b.u.t.t no dayntie dish.

A may chitt[29] a small dark gray bird litle bigger then a stint of fatnesse beyond any. it comes in may into marshland & other parts & abides not aboue a moneth or 6 weekes.

[29] Mr. Stevenson, "Birds of Norfolk," ii., p. 233, gives his reasons for coming to the conclusion that the Sanderling (_Calidris arenaria_) is here referred to, which the absence of a hind toe (see third letter to Merrett) tends to confirm. The "_Churre_" is only a variant of the name "_Purre_," by which the next species, the Stint, is commonly known, and the _Green Plover_, now applied to the Lapwing, is an old name for the _Golden Plover_, which he rightly says [p. 20] does not breed in Norfolk.

[fol. 13 _verso_.] Another small bird somewhat larger than a stint called a churre & is co[=m]only taken amongst them.

[resume fol. 14.] Stints in great numbers about the seash.o.r.e & marshes about stifkey Burnham & other parts.

Pluuialis or plouer green & graye in great plentie about Thetford & many other heaths. they breed not with us b.u.t.t in some parts of scotland, and plentifully in Island [Iceland].

[_Fol. 15._] The lapwing or vannellus co[=m]on ouer all the heaths.

Cuccowes[30] of 2 sorts the one farre exceeding the other in bignesse.

some have attempted to keepe them in warme roomes all the winter b.u.t.t it hath not succeeded. in their migration they range very farre northward for in the summer they are to bee found as high as Island.

[30] The circ.u.mstance which gave rise to the idea that there were two kinds of Cuckoos, differing only in size, might possibly be discovered were it worth the research; possibly it would be found that the second species was of foreign origin. Aldrovandus, as quoted by Willughby, says, "Our Bolognese Fowlers do unanimously affirm, that there are found a greater and a lesser sort of Cuckows; and besides, that the greater are of two kinds, which are distinguished one from the other by the only difference of colour: but the lesser differ from the greater in nothing else but magnitude." Perhaps it was Browne's latent respect for antiquity which led him to mention the tradition.

Avis pugnax. Ruffes[31] a marsh bird of the greatest varietie of colours euery one therein somewhat varying from other. The female is called a Reeve without any ruffe about the neck, lesser then the other & hardly to bee got. They are almost all c.o.c.ks & putt together fight & destroy each other. & prepare themselues to fight like c.o.c.ks though they seeme to haue no other offensive part b.u.t.t the bill. they loose theire Ruffes about the Autumne or beginning of winter as wee haue obserued [they _struck out_] keeping them in a garden from may till the next spring. they most abound in Marshland b.u.t.t are also in good number in the marshes between norwich & yarmouth.