54<4 Natural Histoty in the English Counties : — 



cod (Gadus Meihita L.) and other fisli were put in. That 

 they should not live, was probable enough ; but, what is very 

 singular (I speak on the keeper's authority), from the time of 

 their bein^ put in, to the present, not one has been seen, either 

 alive or dead. It has been conjectured that they died, and 

 the eels, and other fish of prey, devoured them : but that the 

 eels, voracious as they are, should not havfe spared one, to tell 

 the tale of their destruction, is bevohd the bounds of proba- 

 bilitv * '-^ ^^- ^^^''''- ^ ''' '?2Cifi>nQl9a ismirmnK 'd ? : . -y^ ^.^ 



The Bearded Titmouse' \Pdrus%Wrmiaisf 'inhabits Ddgen^ 

 ham Breach, Dagenham is also interesting from a rare and 

 beautiful bird which annually frequents it^ On the sides of 

 the lake grows, with a luxuriance not often seen, that elegant 

 plant, the common reed (^rundo Phragmites L.) ; and, about 

 November and December, may be seen feeding on the seeds 

 of this plant the beautiful bearded titmouse (Parus biarmicus), 

 or red pheasant, as they there call it. — O. Feb. 1832. 



The bearded titmouse is not rare in the marshes oF Erith, 

 in Kent, as well; as appears by the following remark in Knapp's 

 Grdmi7ia Britannica, where it occurs incidentally, in the 

 description of the common reed (y^rundo Phragmites L.). 

 "The panicles of the ^rundo Phragmites continue through 

 the winter; and in the marshes of Erith, in Kent, are resorted 

 to in that season by that very rare bird, Parus barbatus 

 \_Brissoni Parus biarmicus Gmelin'], to seek for in them either 

 the minute seeds they may contain, or the insects that have 

 sought an asylum there." — J. D, i*^-! 



NORFOLK. 



Origin of the Crag Stratum of Not folk. — Sir, From the 

 attention I have paid to the subject, 1 have reason to believe 

 that the crag stratum of Norfork is the result of an ancient 

 estuary, the existence of which dates prior to the deluge 

 of the Scriptures. It has been traced northward of Norwich, 

 in the parishes of Wroxham, Belaugh, Horstead, Marsham, 

 Aylsham, &c., to Cromer ; and westward of Cromer at Wey- 

 bourne. I conceive, that if two parallel lines were described 

 southward of the two last-mentioned places, with a little 

 inclination to the east, a tolerably correct idea would be had 

 of the extent of this estuary. After an attentive enquiry, 1 

 have never been able to ascertain that regular beds of crag 

 exist beyond these limits : on the contrary, eastward of this 

 tract, ligneous and mammalian remains have been found in 

 abundance; indicating that it was once dry land. The vestiges 

 of this estuary are precisely the results we witness of the 

 action of the sea upon our present shores ; as, in addition to 



