We have paid much attention to the birds of the Fens, partly because of
the occurrence of some unexpected species, and also because of the
absence, so far as our collection goes, of species of which we should
expect to find large numbers.
Perhaps the most interesting are the remains of Pelican (_P. crispus_
or _onocrotalus_)[8]. Of this we have two bones, not associated nor
in the same state of preservation. The determination we have on the
authority of Alphonse Milne Edwards and Professor Alfred Newton. One
of the bones is that of a bird so young that it cannot have flown over
but shows that it must have been hatched or carried here.
[8] _Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zool._ (5), Vol. VIII,
Pl. 14, pp. 285-293. _Ibis_, 1868, pp. 363-370, _Proc. Zool.
Soc._ 1868, p. 2. _Trans. Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists
Soc._ Vol. VII, Pt. 2, 1901. _Geol. Mag._ No. 447, N.S. Dec.
4, Vol. VIII, No. 9, p. 422.
Of the Crane (_Grus cinerea_) we have a great number of bones but of
the common Heron not one. I have placed a recent skeleton of heron in
the case to help us to look out for and determine any that may turn
up. Bones of the Bittern (_Botaurus_ or _Ardea stellaris_) are quite
common, as are those of the Mute or tame Swan (_Cygnus olor_) as well
as of the Hooper or wild Swan (_Cygnus musicus_ or _ferus_). Goose
(_Anser_) and Duck (_Anas_) are not so numerous as one might have
expected. The Grey Goose (_Anser ferus_) and the Mallard (_Anas
boscas_) are the most common, but other species are found, as for
instance _Anas grecca_. We have also the Red Breasted Merganser
(_Mergus serrator_), and the Smew (_Mergus albellus_), the Razor Bill
(_Alea tarda_), the Woodcock (_Scolopax rusticola_), the Water Hen
(_Gallinula chloropus_) and a few bones of a Limicoline bird, most
likely a lapwing. We have found the skull, but no more, of the
White-tailed or Sea Eagle (_Haliaetus albicilla_). The whole is a
strangely small collection considering all the circumstances.
We find in the Fens of course everything of later date, down to the
drowned animals of last winter's storm, or the stranded pike left when
the flood went down. It is a curious fact and very like instinct at
fault that in floods the pike wander into shallow water and linger in
the hollows till too late to get back to the river, so that large
numbers of them are found dead when the water has soaked in or
evaporated. An old man told me that he well remembered when pike were
more abundant they used to dig holes along the margin when the flood
was rising and when it went down commonly found several fine pike in
them. This explains why we so often find the bones of pike in the peat,
but where did the pike get into a habit so little conducive to the
survival of the species?
Although we notice at the present day a constant change in the
mollusca, their general continuity throughout the long ages from
pre-glacial times is a very remarkable fact.
The presence of _Corbicula fluminalis_ and _Unio littoralis_ in the
Gravels characterized by the cold-climate group of mammals such as
_Rhinoceros tichorhinus_ and _Elephas primigenius_, the absence of
those shells from the deposits in which _Rh. merckii_ and _E.
antiquus_ are the representative forms, and their existence now
only in more southern latitudes, as France, Sicily or the Nile, but
not in our Turbiferous Series, lay before us a series of apparent
inconsistencies not easy of explanation.