 Section 10 of Notes of an East Coast Naturalist by Arthur Henry Patterson. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Bird Notes Part 10 A Corvine Immigration 18th and 19th of October are always days of interest to me. For under normal conditions, various members of the Crow Tribe may be looked for coming in from sea in greater or lesser numbers. On the first date in 1903, a remarkable immigration set in, and on the next day great rushes of hooded crows, rooks, crows, jackdaws, and starlings, as well as small perching birds, were observed passing overhead. The whole day long, from dawn until night, incessant streams, the rooks and crows in straggling flocks of from twelve to thirty in a flock were leisurely pouring in, as if they had had a fine passage with no wind to tire them. The local wind was south-westerly at the time. Hundreds of jackdaws in compact flocks, flying very high, passed over for once remarkably mute. Their custom is to noisily prey over their arrival. Most of the birds I saw appeared in no way fatigued, although an intelligent fisherman informed me subsequently that a number of jackdaws and others had dropped down upon the boom and rigging of his drifter, as well as on others for rest. This was on the twentieth, after a wet, baffling night. Moisture seems to tire the birds far more than an adverse wind. I myself noticed that the birds flew in on that date with seemingly greater effort and unsteadyer flight. A rook alighting on the beach at this time was seized by a stroller, and notwithstanding its protests and struggles brought to me in a handkerchief. Placing him in an aviary, I supplied him with a couple of boiled potatoes. These he readily ate, and then commenced to search for a loophole of escape, evidently desirous of continuing his journey. The Value of Birds When conversing with two veteran sportsmen, men whose names were thirty and forty years ago identical, indeed almost synonymous, with Braden, I was interested in the way they disposed of their game, and in the prices made off it. In the fifties and sixties, a bittern would make at a game-dealers about two shillings. Aversets about four shillings and sixpence. A quail fetched a penny. A widgen sixpence. A land-dotterel thrapence. And who pose four shillings apiece? That they obtained goodly numbers in those wild-open days goes without saying, or these men had not brought up families on their earnings. Prior to the sixties, the gunners used to stay out all night, their boys bringing their breakfasts up the walls in the morning, and returning with their fathers' bags, the smaller game being tied up in sacks or in baskets, the ducks tied by the head and slung on sticks carried on the shoulder. One noted wildfowler, known as Storks, sent his wife with the fowl to a local game-dealer who used to laugh about her light-handed ways. She never brought a handkerchief of birds, but he missed a fowl or two after she was gone. That this particular dealer had vast numbers of fowl brought in is evident from the fact that when a friend of mine succeeded him in the shop, he described the floor as being saturated with blood, so much so that the stain could be seen, having worked through the boards in the cellar. Reverting to the prices given, one man gladly accepted three and sixpence for a purple heron. A good godwit, in the red, realized sixpence and a grey thrapence, while spoonbills ran from three shillings to six, according to condition. Sixpence was given for as many kentish plovers. In those days wildfowl was so plentiful in sharp wintry weather, more especially hard fowl, that is, golden eyes, tufted ducks, scalps and potchards. That cripples were seldom pursued. It did not pay for the time lost in recovering them, and few carried a shoulder-gun to settle the poor things, which were left to struggle, until drowning mercifully ended their sufferings, or the wind and tide drifted them to the walls, where in the hollows and holes of the stone embankment they hid to die slowly, or to fall into the clutches of the rats, which there lived like fighting-cocks. Certain men who had no guns would patrol the walls, assisted in their search by keen-centred mongrel dogs. In this way they sometimes made quite a bag of crippled birds, and so earned a day's wage by disposing of them. The Messer's Padgett, in their sketch of the natural history of Yarmouth by C.J. and J. Padgett, make reference to a dog kept by a marshman, which on its own account used to thus search for wounded fowl, taking them home by the nearest cut, across stitches and over-styles to its master. That's better prices were sometimes obtained for unusual curios, as strange birds were called, is true, for some of the cuter wildfowlers were on the lookout for such to supply collectors birdstuffers and in some instances interested parties outside the town. Placed beside the figures above mentioned, the prices made by rare birds in recent years will show the almost fictitious value resulting from increased competition or rarity. The difference, even in 10 or 12 years in prices made, will be shown in the following lists. 1. Over-encil of Uncased Local Birds, 16th June, 1876 Ruff-legged hobby or spray, 18 shillings Orange-legged hobby, one pound Ruff and Reeve, six shillings Hobby, six shillings Bronnick's Kilimat, three shillings and sixpence Hoopo, mile, 13 shillings Bitten, mile, 10 shillings Blackthroater Diver, mile, 12 shillings Spoonbill, mile, one pound, six shillings Buffon's Scuwa, mile, 14 shillings Eared Greebe, mile, nine shillings Redneckfellowrope, mile, 16 shillings Greyfellowrope and Purple Sandpiper, nine shillings Fork-tailed Petrol, five shillings Avocet, three pounds, five shillings White Stork, two pounds, 15 shillings Shorelark, two shillings and sixpence There were 96 un-cased lots, numbering in all 180 specimens Number two The rising collection at Horsey was dispersed in 1885 when 142 lots realised 340 pounds A few are figured below Most of the birds were in cases Marsh Harriers, mile and female Four pounds, four shillings Whiskered Turn, six pounds, 16 shillings and sixpence Rose Eight Turn, 10 shillings and sixpence Whitewinged Black Turn, 12 pounds, 12 shillings Black Turns, mile and female Three pounds, three shillings Black Stork, 11 pounds, 11 shillings Brown Snipe, 13 pounds, 13 shillings Hoopos, mile and female Three pounds, three shillings Buffle-headed Duck, 26 pounds, five shillings Red Crested Whistling Duck, 21 pounds, 10 shillings and sixpence Black Tiled Godwits, mile and female Two pounds, 12 shillings and sixpence Ruffs, six specimens Three pounds, three shillings Eared Grebe, mile and female, summer Four pounds, 14 shillings and sixpence Little Bittens, mile and female Five pounds, five shillings Spoonbills, mile and female Ten pounds, ten shillings Purple Sandpipers, mile and female One pound, one shilling Short Notes from the Dari In making notes from day to day Not a few interesting items Short and concise, yet considered of value By the author have been jotted down Scarcely of sufficient moment to enlarge Into paragraphs they are here given Under the separate years Their brevity will be as noticeable As their variety 1878 September the 17th Kingfishers have been very numerous In the locality Not a rare thing has it been to see Half a dozen birds in the course of a walk Before breakfast by the river Bure Many were killed One man having 11 preserved In one case They realized from fourpence To sixpence apiece September the 17th A passing whimperl answered to my call And coming hurriedly down Alighted on the roof of the house Overlooking the Bure 1879 February During a spell of extremely severe weather A southern rush of linets took place Many hundreds died Some even dropping down From the passing flocks and expiring 1880 July the 15th Saw an exceedingly young potchard Hanging on a polterer's stall Its primaries were mere short soft stumps It is certain the bird had never flown And must have been bred on a neighboring broad 1881 September the 23rd Quite a number of buzzards Both common and roughlegged in the neighborhood Besides various harriers and other birds of prey September the 23rd A curlew was shot on Braden With abnormally large feet Probably the result of shot wounds October the 5th A land rail dropping into one of our central streets Sort refuge in a tobacconist shop Giving some trouble in getting it out Of a labyrinth of walking sticks Similar instances of land rails Losing themselves in the town Have occurred from time to time Giving in their capture unlimited excitement November the 9th A tired-out jack-door A lighting upon a chimney-pot Overbalanced itself And tumbling down into a room Caused not a little commotion Before it was secured 1882 April Several wing-weary red-legged partridges Caught in and around the town this month 1883 December A hooded crow was obtained early in the month With the upper mandible describing a complete half-circle The end of the lower one Protruding three-quarters of an inch beyond it December A wood-pigeon has just died after being in a cage 19 years It was taken when a squab by a friend of mine He stated that it had made off with a few bushels of corn 1889 September the 4th A number of starlings joined in with the swallows On this hot day in their aerial circlings In pursuit of insects I have seen them do the same thing Around the parish church November The millinery shops are exhibiting an immense number Of badly stuffed snipe as ornaments for ladies' headgear Both jack and common snipes December the 8th A lap-wing weighing 12.5 ounces on a stall on this state 1890 November the 19th No less than eight bearded tits Exposed for sale on a polterer's stall They had been killed with very large shot And had simply been riddled to pieces All but one were eventually thrown into the rubbish-box December the 7th A whigeon was picked up on the North Deans Just below the telegraph wires near the railway lines Its neck and wing were broken December the 31st Small gulls starving And so tame that they are lighted upon the marine parade To pick up crumbs and biscuits thrown to them Some boys caught several by converting a fish-trunk into a trap Tilting it at one end upon a stick To which a long string had been attached When the gulls are lighted to pick up the bait The urchins pulled the string 1891 January the 7th A rook was brought to me with a clearly formed beak The upper mandible being but half the length of the lower one April the 26th After a spell of rough, adverse weather I picked up at the high water-mark on the beach The remains of a woodcock, a jack-door, a chaff inch, a blackbird and a red-wing June the 25th Lately several adult puffins have been washed ashore dead Probably victims of a severe northerly wind Which obtained during the month Strong tides must have drifted them from at least the Yorkshire coast July the 9th Saw a pair of great crested grebes swimming in the sea A most unusual thing for these birds Whose habitat is fresh water, especially in the nesting season September the 19th A great many turns leading southward along the shore In the wake of the turns this year Several skewers have been observed One gunner killed no less than four 1892 June the 26th A stork coming in direct from sea Settled on the roof of a house on Princes Road And to the astonishment of Passersby Went fast to sleep And on a waking went away unmolested October the 8th Continuous flocks of the Swallow family flying southwards November the 15th A flock of guillomots in the roads On this date several were swimming around the end of the Britannia pier Snatching at the baits attached to the lines of sea anglers 1893 January the 12th A waxwing seen in the neighbourhood January the 29th 58 wild swans on Braden August the 23rd Several wood sandpipers seen 1894 June the 4th Saw a sparrow feeding with others With its head a whitish grey A day or two after I was shown one Alive of a uniform cream colour Thus making with a third I saw at Ormsby Of a buffed tint Three oddly coloured examples in the space of a few days On the 10th of July a live cream coloured blackbird Was shown to me June the 7th Two flocks of starlings on the Braden marshes There were fifty in each bunch They joined forces and wheeled in aerial evolutions Just as the larger flocks do in late autumn Without a doubt These unpaired and unusually late flocks Were the late hatched young of a preceding autumn Their plumage was adult June the 26th Obtained a live oyster catcher From a fishing smack July the 31st An early arrival of migratory hooded crows Seven appeared on the North River marshes My earliest record of this bird's appearance Is the 22nd of June 1896 July the 31st A great number of some species of diptera Floated along the surface of the River Bure They had probably been blown into the water And in long black lines were driven downstream Some swallows repeatedly dipped at them Hitting the water with their breasts As they seized the insects And then as if helped by the impetus In curving flight rose on the wing again Some of the birds snapped at insects That flew up from the ronde as my feet brushed the grass And the smart twig of their mandibles That followed the seizures of a victim Was distinctly heard over and over again September the 3rd On this date I saw a swallow strike At an insect floating on Ormsby Broad As quick almost as the bird A jack struck at the swallow Which barely escaped the formidable jaws Of the disappointed fish September the 14th During the past fortnight about 30 little stints Tringer, Minuta Have been shot on braid and mud flats September the 21st Saw an Alpine Accentor Calaris hunting for marine insects And I should not be surprised If crustaceans also were its prey Upon some weed-covered piles and stumps At the harbour mouth October the 10th Two kitty-wakes, one adult and the other immature Gilled in a herring-nat Having in their dive after herrings Done their heads through the meshes of the net I am of opinion that this dashing Strong-winged sea-loving gull Is quite capable of forcing itself Beneath the surface of the water In its quest for food Although not given to diving long distances Other gulls do not seem given To this impetuosity This ending to pick up a floating edible Actually slacken their plunge Air they have hit the water Indeed, there seems an effort to mount Before the feet are immersed November the 15th Two house-martins seen flying about town 1895 February the 2nd Local bird-stuffer had lately 16 Little orcs in for preservation On a postcard from Mr. J. H. Gurney Dated the 11th of March, he states The number of little orcs for Norfolk Is 278 Verily a big catastrophe To a little species November the 2nd Observed some snow-buntings on the marshes Feeding upon shriveled-up seeds Of the Mickelmastase Aster, Tripolium In hard winters, when fairly large flocks Frequent the sand dunes, the hitherto Buried seeds of semi-marine plants Exposed by the very forces Which covered them with blown sands Afford this species with its cousins The Shawlarks and the rarer Lapland Buntings, a sparse but no doubt Satisfactory supply of food 1896 April the 26th Hundreds of tired swallows Crowding on the roof of a house near the beach They had evidently but just arrived On their northward journey June, early in the month A crested grebe fishing around a boat Was caught on a hook by an angler As much to his own surprise as the birds July the 14th Saw golden plover on the beer walls My earliest autumnal record Of the species August the 6th Several black-tailed godwits Were here on Braden Formerly the species nested at Horsey September the 14th During the whole of two bleak still nights On this date and on the 13th of October The air seemed literally alive With grey plovers and other migrants Almost everyone noticed Their incessant piping calls 1897 June the 26th I observed about three scored dunlins And a few ringed plovers on Braden mudflats Surely it was time that they had gone Northward to their breeding-horns Can it be that the dunlins at least Were non-breeders of that year? August the 4th Common sandpipers in one flock on the beer The largest number I ever saw together At one time December the 4th A sparrow's nest with young ones at Galston 1898 January the 17th Young sparrows, reared since Christmas Of 1897, are to be seen flying About on Trafalgar Road Three weeks prior to this date Some young starlings were hatched at Southtown May the 26th Nest of pied wag-tails in an old pile Hanging on a wall at Tunstall near Eichel August the 11th Quite a number of crossbells Invaded a Southtown garden Where, to the annoyance of the gardener, They commenced plucking his cherries and gooseberries In self-defense He slew several Of two I saw and obtained for the Tollhouse Museum One was a dirty yellowish green The other a bright red August the 14th Saw some sand martins at Thorpe Popping in and out of holes in a wall Stands up direct from the water at the riverside They had nests built in these cavities Formed by the crumbling away of soft bricks October the 10th There arrived on this date Thousands of gold-crested wrens Locally termed herring-spinx In some years they are exceedingly numerous And attract attention by the bold manner In which they settle upon shrubs and trees And by their acrobatic feats Amongst branches and twigs At such times as St. George's Park Is lively with them The neighbouring cats have a fine time bird-catching 1899 May the 18th Myriads of the larvae of the tipula Or cranefly on the grass on the beach gardens Which they ravaged They might have been swept up by quarts Yet with all the reputed love Of Pasa Domesticus for this larvae Not a sparrow dane to feed upon them May the 25th Sixteen turnstones dodging a belt Upon the flint-stone walls of Braden Searching for crustaceans beneath the drifted refuse On the slightest movement of myself or boat They immediately stood motionless When their colours so nearly assimilated To their surroundings That no one would have detected them Had they not been located when on the move September 30th The wind set in last evening extremely rough With rain from the southeast Giving promise of an influx of migratorial waders Went up Braden today to see what had turned up The place swarmed with newly arrived Golden and grey plovers Ringed plovers and dunlands Saw a few turnstones, green shanks and wimbrill On the 2nd of October Durant the poultry market Had 33 grey plovers in And all together during the first few days In the month no less than 270 Of this species December 9th Three dead gannets washed up on the beach December 21st Ten barnacle geese on Braden During the month while the broods were frozen Many hundreds of coots might be seen feeding On Zostera marina The Wigeon grass on the flats Their method of progress was singularly Sheep-like, the whole flock moving Simultaneously, every evolution One way or the other being in unison Like so many soldiers They had become more and more Like so many soldiers They had become shy from incessant persecution On rising, the patter of their feet Was louder than that of gulls And they dashed into the water With an impetuosity which flung up Spray all round them 1900 August the 4th All the night I remained on Braden in my boat In close proximity were between 200 and 300 turns of various species Including black and lesser turns They held a nocturnal concert 1901 March the 2nd Obtained a female Wigeon Which had assumed certain markings Characteristic to the male Amongst them the bright green Speculum on the wing being most noticeable March the 23rd Wind northeast Gail diminished Strolling by the North Beach I was vexed at seeing the destruction Of sand dune by the recent high tides Found quite a number of dead rooks Several starlings All probably northward bound migrants And sprinkled here and there Were dead guillomots, little orcs, and some puffins April the 21st I have at length come to a satisfactory conclusion With regard to the frequent visits Of town pigeons to Braden mudflats The object of their search Appears to be the empty shells Of the little mollusk known as Hydrobia alve This takes place in the finer months The lime and saline matter combined Being as healthful to the birds as necessary I do not think that the living mollusk Is overlooked April the 27th On Braden And five more joined them next day Remaining for some hours May the 16th After a little cautious manoeuvring I got fairly close to a flock of ten gadwalls Annas Stripara On Braden It was a bitterly cold day But the sight of these and two spoon bills Insated for any discomfort The spoonies fell in with many Penny-sized flounders But could not swallow them The attendant gulls did this for them Snatching them away in a very ludicrous way July the 21st Rowing around Braden today I fell in with three curlew sandpipers And two spoon bills A Caspian turn and a sandwich turn The latter was resting on a floating basket The Caspian was fishing Plunging into the water with the dash And vigor of an osprey July the 25th Observed eleven green shanks feeding together In one flock A little of the month an invasion of wax wings Excited the attention of both gunners And naturalists Reports reach me that at Filby They were to be seen feasting in the gardens As tame as doves So they were ruthlessly killed One shot by a birdcatcher was described to me As full up with butterhors Or hawthorn berries April Small waders on Braden In this month I sometimes meet with gunlins And other small waders plumaged as grey As in the depth of winter I feel convinced these are the late hatched birds Of the preceding year Again some are to be seen with the Black breast patch and some are saddle Battered even in March I take it these are old and well advanced birds April the 15th Met with a young fellow who has a great weakness For hunting for plover's eggs In which pursuit he seems only too successful His theory for nest finding was put as follows The lapwing usually makes three nest holes Two of them he calls scrubs If you find one of these scrubs Alleged to be scratched out by the bird At three paces off you will find a second And then at equal paces a third The three forming a triangle In the northernmost hole you may lay your life As he said the lapwing deposits its eggs I have not experimented to prove That his ingenious bit of mathematic bird law Has some foundation May the 7th Several land-dotteril on caster marshes Six in all were killed May the 16th Over 50 herons scattered about braden fishing July the 3rd Two cuckoos calling early this morning near braden One piped repeatedly in its natural voice The other answered in a key quite one note higher Calling in a double syllable note Cuckoo I am satisfied there was no echo October the 3rd I obtained from the market a teal With the breast feathers dyed by its frequently using Some ditch which evidently contained colouring matter I sent it to Mr. J. H. Gurney who wrote I am much obliged for the ruddy teal Which is the reddest I ever saw And I will have it skinned 1903 January the 1st Wade a common snipe which balanced the scale At six ounces March the 3rd After a number of years absence Six jackdaws took up their quarters in the steeple Of St. Nicholas Church Herein they subsequently successfully reared their young August the 1st An entirely grey example of the curlew sandpiper With another only tinged with red Feeding in front of my houseboat on this date October Some exceedingly large flights of gold-crested Rends in the neighbourhood October the 31st A flock of long-tailed tits flew in Apparently from the sea and at a very slight elevation They came up one of the roads leading to the marketplace And thence flew towards the church and finally disappeared November the 10th Immense flights of lap wings and various plovers Flying around the town above head at night And on the following day Thousands were seen on the marshes in the broad districts November the 13th Wax wings very much in evidence around sea pooling Four were shot on this date End of Section 10 Section 11 of Notes of an East Coast Naturalist by Arthur Henry Patterson This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Fish Notes, Part 1 Grey mullet The grey mullet, Mugil Capito Claims first notice in my Fish Section Because my earliest recorded observation was on this species Besides this, the fish has always been a favourite with me Since the day I first saw it jumping about Braden In the earlier half of the last century It was a common and annual visitor to Braden Shoals coming up in the summer time And in the deeper water that then obtained Some of the flats being scarcely ever dry It's reveled among the vegetation growing there The species known locally as sea cabbage Alva Lactuka Together with the mollusks living upon it Being eaten by this fish From the time when the Dickie works A kind of breakwater to the ebbs Coming from the Waverney and Wensum Or yeah, were constructed Just prior to the sixties The flats commenced to silt up While the channel deepened From that time till now The mullet has come in lessening shoals each year Until what was once a ruminative fishery Giving employment to several Bradeners Has entirely ceased The net used was known as a poke Or purse net The main net consisting of small light meshes On either side of which were larger and loose fitting ones When a fish pushed against the obstruction It invariably pocketed itself The smaller mesh centre Being driven through a large outside mesh Completely bagging the captive Sometimes when driven to desperation One mullet would jump the net When the rest would follow Knowing this, if a large shoal was encountered Two parties would sometimes unite A second net being drawn At a certain distance behind the other Seldom did the mullet jump a second time An old Bradener once enclosed And landed sufficient to realise Thirteen pounds for his haul A third of what the catch would have made At the present day His largest fish weighed nine pounds A few grey mullet With a sprinkling of salmon, trout and surmullet Are taken occasionally at sea In the herring nets Very rarely indeed has an example taken the hook Never to my knowledge on Braden One was certainly caught at the fish wharf In August 1888 It was twenty-two inches in length And took a muscle In the old days Cormorants frequented Braden Finding the mullet a very interesting study Since they're forsaking the place A circumstance hastened by the increasing Surridge run into the river The visits of Cormorants have become Fewer year by year On the 10th of November 1890 A lad fishing near Braden Accidentally hooked a small grey mullet Which, on being forwarded to Dr. Gunter At the British Museum Was decided to be a variety known to science As Mughil September Trionalis It was seven and a half inches long Boar fish It may seem odd that a fish of great rarity Should turn up in a certain locality Where it has hitherto been unrecorded Or unknown And almost immediately after another Or others be met with But this may be accounted for By the possibility of a shoal having strayed thither In the case of the appearance of the boar fish Capros Aper Two or three were discovered And then they disappeared entirely When passing by a shrimpers shop On the 9th of July 1881 I aspired a small fish the size of my hand Exhibited by the side of some shrimps It was of a rich carmine colour And had been taken that morning in the net Beauty of colouration and quaintness of shape Are its only recommendations To the notice of those who fall in with it It is thinner in proportion to its size Than a dory, bony, scaly And not sweet smelling My note to the East and Daily Press Respecting its capture elicited From Mr. T. Suther, fellow of the Zoological Society The following interesting letter The capture of the boar fish Capros Aper Mentioned by Mr. A. Patterson In the letter published in your issue of this morning The 11th of July 1881 Is very interesting And I believe he is right in saying That this is the first recorded of its occurrence On the Norfolk Coast It is, however, not by any means So rare a creature as Mr. Patterson's Authorities lead him to suppose As scarcely a year passes Without its being met with on the southern coast of England Sometimes in very large numbers The boar fish was first described as British From a specimen taken in Mount Spade Cornwall In 1825 And its chief habitat seems to be close To the runnel stone on the west coast of Cornwall Where Couch says it may be always Found in large numbers It is probably more local than rare And has been met with twice in Scotland As far as the Moray Firth and Banffshire And in the Humber and now at Yarmouth As recorded by Mr. Patterson But it is on the south and southeast coast Where it is met with in large numbers In July 1844 Couch says that more than 200 Were obtained on the Cornish Coast In 1843 Mr. Gatcom saw large numbers Probably more than 1,000 of them At Plymouth they lined the shore Having been thrown overboard by the trawlers Day in his book British Fishers Says that they have become a perfect pest Of late years Compelling the trawlers to change their fishing grounds In order to get out of their way From the start to the lizard Mr. Dunn says they are very common And seem to be on the increase Thousands are yearly caught by the Plymouth trawlers And thousands more by the Drift fishermen Being useless these fish are usually thrown overboard And thus it is probably that So many are found upon the shore dead or dying In 1879 great numbers were found thus on the south coast Very little is known of the habits of the boar fish But it appears to frequent moderately deep water In close proximity to rocks And it is worth noting that up to 1843-44 When the trawl nets seemed to have first invaded their haunts They were considered of great rarity But from that time were taken in great numbers A second example six inches long Was found on the first of May 1882 Swordfish On the 30th of November 1881 A swordfish, Cypheus gladius Was stranded at sea pooling A spot where several most interesting and rare fishers Have obtruded themselves upon the notice of the public Amongst which may be specially mentioned The first recorded Norfolk blackfish Centralophus pomphillus Which was cast ashore there, still living On the 27th of March 1900 The swordfish in question measured 7 feet 3 inches in length Of this, the sword, slightly broken at the end Was 27 inches long There was a quantity of diluted peas soup-like matter In the stomach A 9 feet example managed to mix itself up In some mackerel nets in September 1893 And was taken into lowerstoft Large mackerel The local spring mackerel fishery Which used to afford most picturesque scenes On the beach up till the 70s And was carried on most profitably For a thing of the past And strangely enough The mackerel now caught in this neighbourhood Are taken simultaneously with the herrings The same trick that was noticeably played In the old days is seen now Before the auctioneer commences to drag bids From intending buyers The smallest examples are placed snugly At the bottom of the swell And the largest, which have been temporarily laid aside For the purpose, are placed on the top Some of these examples are very fine indeed A mackerel measured in November 1881 Was 20 inches long And 10 and a half inches in girth And weighed 2 and 3 quarter pounds I have found inside an average size mackerel 17 sand-launces of good size No less than 20 last of mackerel Were landed at the fishwarf On the 26th of September 1897 And one boat alone on the 9th of October Landed two lasts or 24,000 fish The largest mackerel I have ever yet seen Brought in on the 21st of October 1898 Measured 21 and a quarter inches Girth 12 inches Weight 3 pounds 7 ounces Disappearing fish The reason for the lessening And virtual disappearance indeed Of the grey mullet has been given The pollution as well as the alteration Of its habitat and horns Why the mackerel has altered the time of its coming Is difficult to account for The salmon long ago disappeared from our waters For reasons that are obvious Sir Thomas Brown, who died in 1682 In his book Natural History of Norfolk Observed salmon, no common fish in our rivers Though many are taken in the use He speaks of 15 being taken near Norwich At Christmas time, four years before writing his book One was found in a flooded meadow near Norwich On the 1st of December 1873 Rarely small examples are taken offshore Codlings used to crowd up the year Into Braden up till the late 80s But have since been scarce there Large perch, for some reason Are now seldom met with in the broads Whether the local race has deteriorated Or large perch are not so easily enticed To destruction as formerly Remains a matter to speculate upon Young Pollock In the spring of 1888 There occurred an unprecedented invasion Of juvenile Pollocks Gaddis Pollackius in this neighbourhood A stir had already been made at Lowerstoft In angling circles, numbers having turned up there In fact due, it was suggested To extensive dredging operations That had been going on there for some time Such conjecture surely must have been Wide of the mark, for no doubt Tidal influences had contributed To the unusual movement of this species At that period I was keen on hunting up New species for my list And hearing of the big captures Went fishing myself, baiting my hooks With live sand shrimps On the 8th of May I caught in a short time No less than 17 Averaging 11 inches apiece I knew the fish at once As what was locally termed the pinnican coal Pinnican I take to be suggestive Of small size Still further examining my capture And consulting Kelch From his book British Fishers I satisfactorily identified it As the Pollock Year by year we have a few captured here But never so numerously as in 1888 East Coast Gobi's Since 1888 the list of Gobi's Before then standing at only one Solitary species, the spotted Gobi Gobius minutus I have had the satisfaction of bringing up to five The yellow spotted Gobi Gobius oratus In 1888 Rock Gobi Gobius Niger In 1889 White Gobi Letronculus Pelusidus In 1890 And the two spotted Gobi Gobius In 1891 The first yellow spotted Gobi I ever recognized I pulled out of the mouth of a whiting It's tile only protruding Great numbers are taken every year In the shrimpers nets It is a marine species The spotted Gobi is equally at home In brackish and even fresh water I have seen it at the burrow end of Braden Scuttling about in little pools left in the ronds It has an odd habit of stirring up the soft mud around it Into quite a smoky sort of cloud When it either hides there until danger is passed Or in the confusion course to any interfering enemy Manages to bolt to some other location My experience with the White Gobi was interesting A shrimp lad had saved a specimen for me Which he thought was a curious smelt Its comparatively enormous teeth Gave it the appearance of a dwarfed wolffish A certain premium having been placed upon each one he could bring me The boy set diligently to hunt for others And with such success that I soon had brought to me Many more than I needed And certainly more than I felt disposed to pay for So the contract had to be abandoned I sent a couple to the British Museum When Dr. Gunter satisfied me with regard to my finding of the species Since that year I have seen scarcely any examples To the shrimpers I owe my first sight of a rock Gobi Several of which have from time to time been preserved for me Muller's Scopilus My most interesting find I always consider to be the Muller's Scopilus Scopilus penanti The circumstances under which I found it And its extreme rarity Combining to make its discovery quite an event in my early rambling days I took it suddenly into my head to walk to Galston Pierhead on a Sunday afternoon In April 1889 On the way I was delayed half an hour in the marketplace And then pursued my walk It so happened that a few minutes before my reaching the extreme point of the beach A couple of fishermen had made one haul of a draw net But finding little for their pains had left the beach and rode back to Galston The incoming tide was already flinging the spray of the waves over a heap of refuse shaken from the net Seeing a small herring or two kicking about on the weed I overhauled it with my stick Finding, still struggling and strong alive Several young herrings of from two to four inches in length Three or four Viviparis blennies So I seized Viviparis Three three spine sticklebacks And some tiny place Suddenly a small herring like fish with some emerald spots along its abdomen caught my eye And I just contrived to save it from being washed away Placing it in a handful of seaweed I tied it in the corner of my handkerchief Eventually sending it to Norwich to Mr. Suther who satisfactorily identified it The fish was one and a half inch long and three-eighths of an inch deep Its chocolate coloured back and extremely elongated lower jaw Made a conspicuous contrast when laid beside a herring its own size Mr. Suther wrote It was about two inches long and had evidently been very beautiful But was in so dilapidated a condition that I sent it to Mr. Day of Cheltenham The author of the book British Fishers In order that my determination of the species might be placed beyond doubt And he was good enough to confirm my conclusions The little creature has so many names that I hardly know which to distinguish it by Pennant was the first to describe it and called it the Shepi Argentine A very misleading name as it is not an Argentine at all Yarrow called it Pearlsides a very appropriate and descriptive name The American Fisheries Commission give it a better name still Muller's Scopolis It has a very wide distribution as may be imagined when I say that the only other specimen I ever saw Was given me by a whaling captain who caught it in latitude 73.12 north Longitude 14.28 west A long way north west of Yanmea and that it, or a specimen very like it Has also been taken in the Mediterranean In the British Isles it has been taken chiefly in the north of Scotland But also off the coasts of Devonshire, Flintshire and Coliney Bay near Dublin In life the little fellow is very beautiful The scales large and lustrous Very easily detached and of a beautiful silvery sheen The back is glossy black or nearly so The under parts also darker but relieved by a number of remarkable luminous spots Largest under the thorax Forming a double line as far as the vent and thence to the tail fin single But the various figures show considerable departures from this arrangement A full description of the Arctic specimen before referred to was sent by Mr Day to Nature for the 14th of October 1886 To which I must refer you for a more particular account But Norfolk naturalists are much indebted to Mr Patterson for so interesting an addition to the marine fauna of the county Three others were found by a friend of mine on the north beach on the 24th of February 1890 Today's remark that they are generally found thrown on the shore after bad weather Is confirmed in this instance by the fact that just before a stiff guile had raged along the coast Mr Sutherl to whom they were submitted for examination replied Young friend's fishes are certainly the rare scopolous It, like many other inconspicuous things, probably is not so rare as is generally supposed It wants finding and it is not everybody who would care for such a small beast when found They are in wretched condition, rubbed and not a scale remaining My last record of the species is one found on the north beach near Scratby in March 1893 Forebearded Rockling Another rarity, the forebearded Rockling, Motella Cymbria, fell into my hands by the nearest accident Early on the morning of the 23rd of May 1889 I rambled beach woods before the sun had risen The sea margin was scarcely visible On reaching the beach I hesitated for a moment and mentally tossed up, so to speak Right angle or half a right angle and at once directed my course at the latter angle Reaching the water's edge obliquely I stumbled on a heap of seaweeds that had been left by the draw netters an hour or so before and commenced raking it over with my walking stick bringing to view a ling-like fish which I afterwards found to measure eight and a quarter inches long As soon as I could see distinctly I began a closer examination and at once by its appearance and its unmistakable seary found it to be a forebearded Rockling Afterwards consulting couch I found it was no stranger to Norwegian waters and had been discovered in several stations in Scotland and also at Falmouth Day referring to its being found in Cornwall says it is small and rare I forwarded a drawing and description to Mr. Sutherl who replied Many thanks for your letter and the drawing of the forebearded Rockling which, so far as I know, has not been before recorded as occurring in Norfolk You are very fortunate in coming across such good things and it only shows what may be done by a person even of limited time if he keeps his eyes open The fish had been crushed by a fisherman's heel and so made a bad specimen I found one large shrimp in the moor Double turbots In October 1889 I discovered my first double turbot The following paragraph is taken from a report of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalist Society's meeting Mr. Sutherl exhibited a drawing of what is known as a double turbot sent by Mr. Patterson of Yarmouth An ordinary turbot at an early age is transformed from a fish swimming in the usual way with its broad sides vertical to one which swims horizontally Both eyes being on the upper surface which is coloured, the under surface being white and eyeless In the double turbot this change has been arrested and both sides have remained coloured and covered with the spines usually found on the upper surface only The eyes remaining almost in the normal position which they occupy in a fish swimming say as a brim not both on one side as in the sole Such double flatfish though now and then met with are decidedly rare They are known to swim vertically and near the surface unlike other flatfishers which keep to the bottom The turbot referred to had a queer kind of notch just above the head and in this the so-called travelling eye had remained thus giving its owner when swimming edgeways up an opportunity to see on either side of him I have on several occasions since seen double turbots slightly varying in individuals In one or two the notch above the head was wanting and the travelling eye was somewhat nearer to the other In two instances the fish have been quite dark coloured on both sides except the head which remained white It is interesting to note that in examples only blotched on the underside the spines corresponding with those on the upper surface are entirely wanting on the white patches In the case of a fish possessing a white patch above and exceedingly rare circumstance the spines there too are wanting Two fine examples brought in in November 1896 weighed respectively when gutted 11 pounds and 12 pounds Pregnant Blanny Attached to a string of herrings heads on a rubbish box I found on November 1889 a full grown female Viviparis Blanny, Zoasees Viviparis Noticing its undue plumpness I took it in my hand when some young ones fully developed and quite ready for extrusion slid down the body of the fish as I held it vertically I afterwards counted 133 little ones each measuring one and a half inch In a straight line they covered just five and a half yards Washed out to sea After heavy rains when the marsh ditches contain more water than is considered safe or requisite by the marshman the pump mills are set to work and the big wheels or the turbines throw thousands of gallons per hour into the sluices connected with the river Here and there when the tide is low sluice gates at the wall side are opened and much water let off in this way In the strong current made by the falling water are born many three spine sticklebacks which still descending on the almost freshwater ebb eventually find themselves outside the harbour mouth These hardy little fellows take a bit of killing being in some instances acclimatized to brackish water It is no rare thing to find them in summer kicking about with juvenile herrings in the refuse left on the beach by the draw netters In 1887 a carp 23 and a half inches in length that had by some means been drawn into the river was hauled ashore in a draw net in company with some of his marine relatives Small perch it is well known hang around where the freshers mix with the salt water coming upstream and occasionally they come a bit too far In 1889 a shrimper brought me one he had taken alive in his net amongst the shrimps and blennies On two or three occasions I have known carp to be picked up on Braden feebly objecting to the saline nature of the water which would eventually have killed them That sticklebacks will recover after being in the sea is certain for on the 6th of April 1890 I picked up several and packing them between some red seaweed in a tin box I carried them home One I placed in a large pickle bottle filled with tap water from Ormsby Broad Wherein he immediately commenced bullying some ten spine sticklebacks that had been living there a long time He was so vicious that I had to remove him to a bottle by himself Whether it were possible for a pike to live any length of time in quite salt water is to my mind very doubtful Salts invading the upper reaches of our rivers are occasionally fatal to great numbers of freshwater fishers pike included In the autumn of 1895 hundred weights of fish including many small pike perished above a cool and were fished out for manure But in November 1897 a pike of goodly size was taken in a herring net miles out at sea of Yarmouth It was reported to be strong alive when captured that it was netted I am satisfied for it was taken to a taxidermist for preservation as a novelty End of section 11 Section 12 of Notes of an East Coast Naturalist by Arthur Henry Patterson This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Fish Notes Part 2 Deformed codfishers Deformities in fishers are not of common occurrence although in the case of the cod I cannot describe them as extremely rare Having noted down such as have come under my notice I give the records as they occur January 1st 1890 Saw a cod measuring in length 26.5 inches and 19 inches in girth at thickest part weighing 11.5 pounds At about 10 inches from the tile the depth was 8.5 inches That of normal examples several of which I measured at that particular part was 4.5 inches The fins were unusually thick at their bases January 20th 1890 Examined a cod so humped at the centre of the back that it looked as if it had been bent to half a right angle It was in good condition May 1st 1894 Met with a most extraordinary looking codfish measuring about 16 inches in length The upper and fore part of the head was raised and rounded in a very odd fashion bulging out like an abnormal forehead The snout being pointed and shortened the lower jaw protruding at least 2 inches beyond it The eyes instead of being rounded were upright ovals I have seen other bulldog varieties of cod since but never a more grotesque example An exceedingly odd example was taken in January 1899 It measured 13 inches in length Not only did the upper jaw protrude somewhat beyond the average and was moreover singularly pointed But the under jaw receded leaving a space when closed equal to half a walnut in the mouth To counteract this deformity the tongue was rounded and enlarged to the size of a marble which effectually blocked the gullet when necessary Layed upon its back the fish was curiously shark-like about the mouth It was figured in the morning leader of the 24th of January A codling brought to me in October 1903 stunted and thick set deserves mention Stunted cods are on dissection generally found to have the anterior portion of the vertebra closely coalesced But in this instance the male formation was so striking at both ends of it that it had very much the appearance of a roach or brim The vertebrae on examination proved to have had this process well defined at each end of it The fish was only one foot in length Of this the head to the edge of the gill covers occupied fully one third Interesting finds I know of no spot so interesting to the naturalist as the tide mark at the seaside Just where the highest billow reached will often be found deposited a great variety of nature's trifles Seaweed usually predominating There are times of course when the tide mark is barren so much so indeed that it is difficult to locate it At others every step brings the rambler to some or several objects of interest Westerly winds in summer are responsible for the drawing up of much seaweed of the finer kinds An easterly and northerly gill flings assure the brownweeds, the tangle, foosai and the ribbonweed Various moluska and crustacea come ashore with the east winds A southerly wind brings nothing In the finer days when the draw netters are at work the probabilities of finding higher forms of life are greater The following notes taken verbatim from my diary may be worthy of perusal April the 6th 1900 Strolled this afternoon to the harbour mouth Two lots of draw netters at work in quest of smelts of which 30 were taken in one haul Other fishers were a salmon trout, plenty of pugs, small herrings, flounders and whitings Also a butterfish, three spratts and several large viviparis blannies and sticklebacks I also noticed one small pollock and what most delighted me, a power cod, gadus minutus Three and three quarter inches in length This is the first recorded example for Norfolk I have seen several others since The lengths of the various species were Whitings four and a half inches Pollock eleven inches Blannies eleven inches Sprat three inches Smelts from four inches to ten and a half inches April the 12th early morning Found a fish new to my list this morning, namely the ocean pipefish Narofes equarius Length fifteen inches The species has been recorded for the wash, but it is new to Yarmouth Have found several others since May easily be recognised as being round and smooth as a pencil April the 13th Great numbers of sea mice washed ashore Codfish are peculiarly partial to them Many empty skate barrows A number of small herrings were washing ashore running from three inches up to six and a quarter inches Noticing a six and a quarter inch example to be very full I took it home and with the aid of a lens countered no less than 143 opossum shrimps from its moor The largest being three fourths of an inch long and one sixteenth of an inch in diameter I found no food in any of the others When overhauling a trunk of sea fish in October 1891 I found a 14 inch brill whose dorsal and anal fins ran continuously under the tile Forming a complete half circle The tile lapping over and extending beyond it and could be lifted clear away from it Early in October 1891 an angler or fishing frog Lofius Piscitorius 12 inches in length was taken out of the pocket of a relative exactly two and a half times its own length The largest angler I ever saw was unceremoniously wheeled to my office in June 1897 It weighed quite a hundred weight I advised the men who brought it to exhibit it around the town and invest their takings in a better concern than the public house A very curious place came to hand in April 1898 It measured 11 inches Across the underside quite in the centre of its length and at right angles to the surrounding fins ran a supplementary fin There were three fin rays towards either margin each connected by membrane The Raylis centre third being also connected by the web The fin was quite free to work but it must have been a greater nuisance than help in its possessors' peregrinations Hardly so handicapped was a spotted skate Raya Maculata about the size of an ordinary dinner plate that had an extra fin The size of a business envelope in the centre of its upper side and at right angles to it It was perfectly raid but had a tendency to fall to one side and thus conveniently to get out of the way of obstacles during the progress of its wearer A stunted herring was brought to the fish wharf in February 1899 Its length was six and three-quarter inches and the depth two inches For this depth it should at least have been ten inches long The normal length of a long shore herring It was plump and contained a well-developed row Muller's top knot The average shrimper will not trouble himself much with regard to what he designates curios Every shrimper has some yarn or other to tell about taking a fish he never saw the likes of before But with this and a vague, useless and mostly misleading description The matter usually ends unless he reproachfully adds that I laid it aside for you but you didn't come so I hold the overboard And it is almost useless to try and persuade a shrimper to preserve for inspection any curious species Unless he thinks he can get a price for it altogether beyond its value Strictly speaking a rare fish is valueless and will remain so until stuffed fishers are as attractive to the public as stuffed birds On the 11th of June 1890 I saw a shrimper mending his net by the side of the beer My query as to whether anything curious had been got of late elicited the fact that a pal had that very morning shown him a rummy flat fish and had probably taken it home I hunted up the catcher who said he had chucked it into the backyard Wither at my request he went and fortunately found the fish intact, having as by a miracle escaped the prowling cats that look after the refuse fish of their shrimper neighbour On sight I saw it was Muller's topknot, Zewgopterus punilatus It measured seven and a half inches in length with four and a half inches and seven eighths of an inch in thickness It's being the first for the county and in remarkably good condition I dispatched it to Norwich Museum where it is now I have seen three or four others since Extram's topknot Far more fortunate was I in the case of the first and so far only known appearance on the Norfolk coast of the rare Extram's topknot Zewgopterus unimaculatus This fish was taken in April 1902 by a friendly shrimper living some distance from my home who, having run a bit of cotton through its mouth, hung it over his mantelpiece where it remained for a number of weeks waiting for me Happening to pass his house in September when on my way to a deceased friend's funeral he called me in and graciously handed it me It was six inches long and as dry as a chip, but on being forwarded to Mr. Boulanger my finding was immediately confirmed Called as umpire On the 13th of June 1900 I had just comfortably settled in bed and the clock had struck twelve when suddenly a cart drove up to the front door and a rousing knock called me from the land of dreams Slipping downstairs hardly dressed I opened the door when three big fellows, one a farmer, the others connected with the fishing business, stumped in and laid a large fish on the table They said they had come to me for an identification of the fish. Could I tell them? Was it a rock salmon? What was it? The fisherman didn't know I informed them it was a full grown Pollock. It weighed twenty pounds and was three feet long There you are, said one fellow to the others I've won the bet. I said it wasn't a rock salmon Noisily thanking me they bundled out and went away How much money changed hands I do not know. They were all sporting men of a sort and I had unwittingly been party to a bet The unexpected happens I went on board a fishing smack in June 1890 and in a large tub found twenty-two little monkfish, Squatina vulgaris, swimming about contentedly enough in translucent water taken out at sea The mother of this large family had been captured off the Dogger Bank and when shot on to the deck gave birth to them The interested fisherman transferring them immediately to this improvised aquarium The adult fish, which died soon after, was forty-nine inches in length. She was of a light sandy hue, the little ones being a grey colour spotted minutely with white and brown Two that I purchased are now in Norwich Museum. They are eleven inches in length On a warm sunny afternoon in July 1900 the river was alive with whitebait or immature herrings which flashed about like a myriad living strips of burnished silver The eels in the river were hungry and many, to the surprise of those who witnessed it, left their muddy horns below and came to the surface, dashing hither and thither after the savoury little morsels In October 1890 a six-inch smelt, either to escape some pursuer or because, stung by surridge, flung itself quite out of the water and landed in the well of my punt where it remained until I could attend to it An extraordinary invasion of codlings took place in October 1890, when day after day thousands came up the air and swarmed in Brayden They were ravenously on feed and afforded some marvellous sport, every available boat being requisitioned They bit at anything and did not usually wait for the bait to sink beneath the surface Two and three at a time would immolate themselves and folk staggered home under loads they did not seem to know what to do with I was out of work at the time and kept my small family well supplied, worried them, in fact, with fish On a frosty January morning in 1891 I pulled up a lump of ice to which some ditchweeds had hid To my surprise I saw a colony of three spine-stickle-backs, seemingly as much taken aback as I was I inclined to think that this species in intensely cold weather becomes semi-dormant, but weather, when the whole body of water becomes frozen throughout The hardy little fellow gets mixed up in the nip and thaws into life again when the ice melts, I cannot say It would be interesting to settle this matter April 1891 was a busy month for those in the fish-line The shrimp-lads were eagerly looking out for curious specimens and amongst a considerable amount of useless and common species I received the following April the sixth, bubalas, cotas bubalas A beautiful living example brought me in a pickle-bottle. In this condition I was desirous of sending it to Norwich Accordingly, attaching a bit of rag to the top and a label to the neck, I hurried with it to the railway station The clerk was sorely puzzled as to the way the parcel should be entered, fish, animal or what At length he described it as glass with care, and under that heading it went This fish was the first of the species recorded for Yarmouth April the eleventh, almost as rare here was a pretty little example of the lesser fork-beard Rani-seps trifurcas brought me, length two and three-quarter inches April the thirteenth, stepping on board a shrimp-boat to see a curio preserved for me I was delighted to find it a two-spotted Gobi, Gobius, Ruth and Sparry, new to my list and probably the second of its species for the county Curiously enough, two others were brought me before the eighteenth Some years ago there lived in the town a coal-hawker who was considered to be a little bit odd In fact, had, as they termed it, a screw loose somewhere He did not always act wisely, as was shown one day when, in a ramble along the beach, he saw a large conga lying on a sand-bank, apparently dead I am not so sure as to the time of the year, but it is not rare in a very severe weather for congas to wash ashore dead or helpless Their bladders having been so distended by the action of the frost that it is impossible for them to control its functions When, tossed about by the keen easterly winds and boisterous waves, they at length are cast upon the sands Our friend, aspiring the fish, between which and himself was an extensive and deep pool or dock, immediately pulled off his clothes and, fastening along garter to his neck, swam over It was the matter of a few minutes for him to attach the loose end of the garter to the tail of the fish and then, with a quick movement, to throw it with himself into the water and attempt to re-cross the dock The moment the fish felled himself in his native element again, he began to struggle and, with returning strength, he soon became master of the situation, pulling the poor fellow helplessly here and there and under and almost drowning him His yells, however, brought assistance, when, spluttering and protesting, he and his captive were landed in safety A 20 inch eel made a great mistake, respecting its swallowing capacities In September 1898, it was found dead upon the surface of a broad, choked by a water-vowel it had attempted to devour Accepting the theory that the double turbot swims edgewise up, one would naturally expect any other double-flat fish to do the same But to the fact of my sparing, with a butt-peck, a double flounder in May 1900 makes the exception, which they say, proves the rule This, the only double-flounder I ever saw, was fairly struck by the pictine through the centre of it The notch and the stationary eye were marked characteristics of this example Stopping a fish-hawker in the street in the spring of 1901, I examined the contents of his barrow Noticing the tail of a fish protruding from the mouth of another, I pulled it out and to my surprise, discovered it was a whiting seven and three-quarter inches long Its divaura, also a whiting, was but nine and a half inches long In June 1901, a passer-by noticed some strange fish floundering about near the quayside piles Reaching down one of the life poles kept by the riverside, he succeeded in gaffing a very fair-sized anglerfish, two feet in length Some years ago, old Jack Gibbs, a noted Bradenner, when picking for eels, struck a conger The lively creature, which weighed thirteen and a half pounds, gave him a scare and afterwards some warm work before he managed to get it into his boat A twenty-six pounds conger, also forgetting itself so far as to visit Braden, was enclosed in a smelt net and afforded two men half an hour's lively diversion before being finally settled Some Soul Notes I saw an eleven-inch soul in August 1890 that was minus the cordal fin Where the tail should be was a decidedly V-shaped inlet, the dorsal and anal fins rounding off and meeting like two sections of a scalloped curtain Only once did I meet with a left-handed soul, that is, a soul with the mouth opening towards the dorsal fin instead of the anal fin This variation is, I believe, extremely rare A quealy-shaped soul attracted my attention on the 29th of October, 1891 It was curiously shortened and slightly wider than a soul of normal shape its own length What was most curious about it was the peculiarly rounded posterior end The dorsal and anal fins coming round in two curves joined the base of the tail In February 1895 a singularly stunted soul was brought in It measured seven and a quarter inches in length for a width across of four and three-quarter inches It was nearly a third less than the normal length Another stunted individual came to hand in January 1898 Its length was eleven and a half inches, width six inches On the 19th of September 1899 a ten-inch soul was exposed for sale in the town The upper surface of it, save what might be roughly termed the cheek of the fish, was perfectly white even to the extremities of the fins Throne up by the sea One of the most beautiful and rare of British fishers is the kingfish, or opa, Zeus Luna Its colours are asplendent although its shape is not comely, it's being an exceedingly clumsily built creature I was passing along the street on the 18th of October 1891 when I saw a group of persons examining some objects on a countryman's cart Joining them I found a splendid example of this fish that had been toppled ashore the day before after a heavy gale Its length was thirty-eight inches, girth forty-one inches and its weight fifty-one pounds The rich colours of blue, vermilion and green spotted with white made it a creature of conspicuous beauty Which the scimitar-shaped dorsal and ventral fins and the forked tail of richest crimson tended to intensify It had evidently found itself astray amongst the sand-banks and there got knocked about until exhausted when it was finally washed ashore at Caster It was a toss-up with the Coast Guardsmen who saw it come ashore whether he should throw it on a manure heap But, being overruled by the advice of his friends, he drove it to the fish-warf where, after a brisk competition It was knocked down to a local fish merchant for two pounds and was preserved for him Two or three others only are recorded for this locality, each of them found on the beach after severe gales There were three small herrings washed up at the tide-mark on the 2nd of April, 1892 Respectively measuring three inches, five inches and seven inches in length I was interested in the appearance of the second fish and, to my surprise, found a fairly well-developed row within it In October, 1894, some blasting operations took place on a submerged wreck The explosions killed several fishers which floated ashore The best find I made was a 28-pound cod and, having no other means of carrying it, I strung it on the barrel of my gun by running it under the gill cover and out at the mouth and so managed to carry home a very interesting capture Variations in colour In November 1890, a place laying on a fish slab caught my attention It is a common practice for fishmongers to lay place out for sail the underside up, just as they lay soles in pairs and smeared dabs the right side up The place in question had a patch of greenish-brown, the colour of the upper surface, on the tile end, reaching upwards one-fourth of the length of the fish There were two separate spots of this colour and wherever this discolouration obtained spots exactly corresponding with those on the upper surface were present This is invariably the case in place so marked, wherever the blotchings may be This applies even to the fins I have observed that in under coloured examples that are lighter-tintered such as dirty cream or light grey, they are minus the spots An albino brill In February 1892 I obtained a perfectly albino variety of the common brill, rhombus levus The upper surface was entirely white, like the underside, with the exception of the extreme edges of the surrounding fins which merged into a yellowish grey When fresh the fish had a pretty appearance, the thin smooth polished upper surface looking almost like porcelain Whilst at the base of the fins a metallic pink was observable in certain lights Around the eyes were irregular rings of an orange tint, giving the fish a red-eyed look The irides of the eyes were of the normal colour, the fish measured 15 inches in length An albino turbot I purchased and forwarded to the British Museum on the 1st of March 1894 a 14 inch white turbot The only attempt at colouration was a narrow rim of grey around the eyes and a slight tint here and there on the fins The whole upper surface was smooth and altogether bare of the spiny processes so conspicuously adorning the fish of normal colouration Another 15 inch example of pure white turbot occurred on the 25th of May 1897 An albino eel A 15 inch sharp-nosed eel of a cream white colour was taken in the Bureau early in June 1895 It was as thick as one's thumb There was a very small patch of the normal colour in the centre of the top of the head The lips were pink and a faint tinge of pink was observable upon the dorsal and anal fins A 15 inch mackerel landed on the fish-warf on the 15th of July 1897 had its deep blue back entirely whole coloured The absence of stripes giving it a most curious appearance I obtained one almost as large in July 1901 Several place averaging 20 inches in length taken in November 1897 and probably all captured in the same locality Were distinguished by large irregular white patches on the upper surface The red spots being wanting wherever the normal colour was absent A smeared dab 10 inches long which I saw on the 20th of October 1902 Whilst being of the normal colour had the whole of the fins encircling it entirely white A singularly pretty place was brought in in February 1902 The four half of the upper surface was of the usual colour and spotted red The posterior portion was white with here and there the slightest tinge of brown in spots Singularly enough wherever a dash of brown appeared a red spot centred it The fins were reddish in hue and the tail decidedly yellow with red lines marking the rays The most beautifully coloured flatfish I have yet met with was obtained on the 13th of October 1902 It was a 10 inch smeared dab, pleuronectase microcephalus The posterior half was of the normal grey brown colour But the ground colour of the anterior portion was white Blotched here and there with large spots of vermilion amid a sprinkling of small brown dots Around the eyes were rings of red The right pectoral fin was white the ventrules also While the dorsal and anal fins for half their length were a pinkish white The remaining portions being brown A thornback ray with the upper surface perfectly white was taken in a shrimp net offshore in August 1903 It equalled in size a dinner plate End of section 12