02 PRACTICAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



about twenty-two miles north of Leicester. The town is situ- 

 ated on a bed of fine red clay, which is covered with a thick bed 

 of gravel. In many parts the soil is deep, but in others scanty. 

 The north-western side of the town is in general very low, with 

 much water, caused by the river being turned for navigation, 

 and its water made available for manufacture and other pur- 

 poses. On each side of the Soar are low meadows, in many 

 places wet and marshy, but generally very productive of fine 

 grasses, which are I believe rather celebrated for fodder. The 

 part of the county which I mean to describe lies between the 

 town of Leicester and the south eastern verge of Charnwood 

 Forest, about six miles distant. After leaving the town, and 

 proceeding about two miles due west, we come to a sort of blue 

 clay, and find detached and scattered pieces of limestone, often 

 containing belemnites. The vegetation here is very scanty, the 

 trees are stunted, and ranpikes are very common. The land 

 intervening between this clayey tract and Bradgate Park, or 

 the Forest of Charnwood, is decidedly woodland, broken, and 

 often picturesque, particularly about the pretty villages of Austy, 

 Grooby, and Newtown Linford. Both the red and blue clays are 

 conspicuous here, but we find them abruptly lost in the granite 

 of Grooby or the schist of Bradgate Park or Charnwood. Two 

 most beautiful streams pass through the villages of Newtown 

 Linford and Grooby. The former rises near to Ulverscroft 

 Priorj^ winds its way through some picturesque scenery, down 

 a lovely valley, shaded by alders, and passing on to Newtown 

 Linford, runs through Bradgate Park, to join the Soar near 

 Quorndon. The other meanders through a rich and beautiful 

 part of the country, and falls into the stream just mentioned 

 six miles from Leicester. The woods here are rather extensive, 

 particularly Martinshaw, Ulverscroft, and Sheet Hedges. They 

 chiefly consist of oak, ash, and aspen, intermixed with birch, 

 and mountain-ash, the underwood being almost invariably com- 

 posed of hazel, white willow, holly, and honeysuckle. In the 

 vernal months, these woods are bestudded with the beautiful 

 Blue Hyacinth, Primrose, Wood Anemone, Sweet-scented 

 Violet ; and as the season advances, the Stitchwort, with its 

 white starry flowers, and the little Germander Speedwell are 



