CHAPTER V 



A Lincolnshire Mud^flat 



Mud, miles and miles of mud, and tidal ooze are the chief 

 characteristic features of the shores of the A\^ash. A little 

 farther north, Avhere the sand predominates, the shallow sea 

 is full of innumerable shrimps, which are caught, not from 

 boats, but in nets trailed astern from a cart ; but below 

 Skemiess the mud beo-ins. The Friskney Flat, for instance, 

 is three miles wide and nearly ten miles in length. At low 

 tide the sea is in^'isible from the sea-wall, save as a narrow 

 streak midway between the lincolnshire and Norfolk coasts. 



This vast expanse of mud, as autumn approaches, is 

 peopled by immense numbers of birds, chieHy waders, M'hich 

 appear with unfailing regularity every year. JNIany of them 

 hail from the mysterious solitudes of the frozen north, never 

 yet trodden by the foot of man ; others from Scandinavian 

 fells and the desolate "tundras" of Siberia. 



In those far-distant shores they have spent the short 

 summer nesting and rearing their young broods, until the 

 signs of quickly approaching winter began to be perceptible, 

 warning them to start on their southward journey to warmer 

 climes. Gradually they are working down, stopping to rest 



