THE RITERS RIB AND QUIN. 129 



Kingfishers arc happily very numerous, and this following what 

 has been said above about trout leads one to hope that they are 

 after all not such great enemies to the pisciculturist as some 

 people imagine. "Water-hens and dab-chicks are common ; occa- 

 sionally water-ouzels, snipe, ducks, and herons may be seen. 



AVyddial Church, close by Wyddial Hall, the residence of the 

 Ellis family, is about the centre of the doul)le water-system of the 

 Upper Kib and Q,uin. From the junction at Braughing, to Ther- 

 field and Barkway, the distances are 11^ and 10 miles respectively ; 

 the widest part from near Thocking to Anstcy, nearly seven miles. 

 The entire basin of the E.ib from its junction with the Lea consists 

 of about 64 square miles, and is 15 to 16 miles in length, by an 

 average breadth of about 4i miles. 



Geologically, the entire basin of the Bib and Quin lies over the 

 chalk ; the London Clay only in one or two places extending north 

 of the Lea. The valleys trend north and south, and there is little 

 of interest in a scientific point of view in the geology hereabouts. 

 Clays, till, and gravel, and occasionally sand, predominate, and 

 sometimes the chalk comes close to the surface, and is worked for 

 lime. jS^o flint implements, whether surface or palfeolithic, have 

 occurred in the neighbourhood of Buntingford that we are aware 

 of. The chalk about Buntingford is not rich in fossils. Boulders 

 occasionally occur in the clay, and on the surface. One very large 

 one may be seen in the street at Standon, of the usual Hertford- 

 shire plum-pudding stone ; and smaller ones, occasionally striated 

 or glaciated, of Mountain Limestone, in the open fields when 

 draining is going on. These latter probably came from Leicester- 

 shire or Derbyshire. 



The volume of water coming down the Bib and Quin in summer- 

 time must be decidedly less than in the last century ; this, no 

 doubt, arises chiefly from more draining of the land, as well as 

 cutting down of large hedgerows, and also from there being rather 

 less of woodland and grass. The several small water-mills already 

 referred to could never have been worked under present average 

 conditions. The following extract from Cussans' ' History of 

 Hertfordshire ' (Edwinstree Hundred, p. 83), may be interesting. 



" The most interesting feature connected with the sketch [the 

 engraving of Little Court, between Corneybury and Buntingford, 

 given in Chauncy] is the Biver Bib, which flows before the house. 

 It is represented as being nearly on a level with the banks, and three 

 figures appear fishing in the stream. At the present time the bed of 

 the river is quite dry for the greater part of the year . . . Fishing, 

 it need hardly be said, is out of the question ; though I am informed 

 by William Butt, Esquire [of Corneybury], that forty years ago 

 the river contained an abundance of pike, roach, perch, and trout." 



Cussans adds in a note, in reference to this reduction in the 

 volume of the Bib of late years, owing to increased field-draining 

 and stubbing-up of the fences and springs, that there is also a great 

 scarcity of water in many parts during the summer months, espe- 

 cially in parts of Buckland, Therfield, and Sandon. 



VOL. II. — PART III. 



