INTRODUCTION XV. 



best of hops and the best of orchards, there are also large 

 tracts of woodland and common land on it. It seems that 

 birds of all descriptions could find a home to their liking 

 upon it. In this district, Hawfinches and Bullfinches 

 have become very plentiful, and of late years the latter 

 have become a perfect plague to the fruit growers. This 

 range of hills finishes abruptly with a sharp fall to the 

 low-lying Weald. The Weald is a bed of heavy clay, 

 covering a tract of country four or five miles in width, and 

 runs through the county from Edenbridge to Eomney 

 Marsh ; it is a wet country, and after heavy rains is much 

 flooded ; though wholly a clay deposit in some places 

 patches of limestone are found on it, the stone called 

 Bethersden marble being an instance of this. Most of the 

 Kentish rivers come from the Weald clay. To the south 

 of the Weald rise the hills of the Hastings sands. These 

 sands form the southern boundary of the county and 

 cover a tract from Cowden to Rye, on the border of 

 Romney Marsh ; they form a sandy undulating district 

 with patches of clay and ironstone, with many dales and 

 hills and little streams. 



From this sketchy account of the geology of the county 

 it is possible to form some idea of its general features. 

 There is the great chalk range to the north some eight 

 or nine miles in width, then on the south of the chalk 

 the wide valley of the Gault and the Folkestone sands, 

 having on its southern side the Kentish Eag hills ; these 

 hills form as it were the backbone of the county, having 

 on their north the valley of the Gault, and on the south 

 side the valley of the Weald ; these two great valleys 

 run nearly the whole length of the county from west to 

 east, with the Kentish Eag between them. There 

 are two districts not yet alluded to which are in- 



