INTKODUCTION XXXI 



The chequered fields lie mapped out before us, mixed with 

 dark patches of wood and belts of fir-covert ; or strips 

 of heath, and village greens with little rivulets winding 

 their shallow course towards the " falls " by the sea, 

 afford the truest characteristics of an English landscape. 

 At Eiunton, also, the "half-year" lands, or unenclosed 

 portions of the parish, present a singular appearance 

 from the fields, being divided, according to ancient 

 custom, by a " mere balk " or boundary instead of 

 fences ; the " balks " consisting of small strips of land, 

 from one to two feet in width, which are never ploughed, 

 and being usually covered with a rough growth of 

 thistles and grasses, are frequented, in large numbers, 

 by seed eating birds. Looking, too, from so command- 

 ing a situation, over the wide expanse of the German 

 Ocean, one can fully realise the attractions of such 

 a coast to the migratory species. In close vicinity the 

 plantations at Bacton, Northrepps, Felbrigg, Cromer- 

 Hall, Beeston, and Sherringham, invite our summer 

 warblers to *'rest and be thankful," and the large 

 flights of Woodcocks that arrive during autumn and 

 winter, here drop into cover on their first arrival or, 

 passing on but a short distance, as the crow flies, reach 

 the still more extensive woods"^ at Gunton, Hanworth, 

 Barningham, Wolterton, Blickling, and Westwick. 

 Amongst the fine old timbers on these large estates, 

 the arboreal birds are plentifully distributed, with the 

 exception only of the prescribed Eaptors. Of this class, 

 however, many autumnal migrants are either trapped 

 or shot on the hills near the coast, and at times, in 



* As Mr. Trimmer remarks, in his " Flora of ISTorfolk," " There 

 are but few traces of natural woods remaining. Of the numerous 

 other woods, more strictly speaking plantations, those at Eaynham, 

 Houghton-juxta-Harpley, Mileham, Blickling, Wolterton, Gunton, 

 Thursford, Swanton Novers, and Foxley, may be specified as some 

 of the oldest and most extensive." 



