lii INTRODUCTION. 



followed. This decided tlie Bustard's fate. Not a nest 

 was there in the wheat-fields, but was either accidentally 

 trodden down, or if seen in time, for the eggs indeed 

 to be secured from the horses' feet, it was only that 

 they might be taken by the man or boy employed, and 

 given to his master's wife, by whom they were set 

 under a hen, or more commonly kept as "curiosities.'* 

 The Bustard is now very inadequately represented by 

 its poor cousin the Norfolk Plover or Stone-Curlew — 

 locally called '^ CuUoo" — which is as yet abundant in 

 certain localities, but yearly diminishing in numbers. 

 Humble as is this distant relative of the lordly bird 

 we have lost, it is still the species most characteristic 

 of the district, and its loud and musical "clamour," 

 rendered classic by the pen of Gilbert White, can never 

 be heard by one who has hved where it has been a 

 familiar sound without re-calling a thousand pleasing 

 recollections, and by its melody charming the stranger 

 whether he be an ornithologist or not. 



The scarcity of streams or rivers throughout the 

 district renders it unsuitable for the countless numbers 

 of water-birds which throng fi'om arctic lands to the 

 coast of the county, whereon first 



" Breaks the long wave that at the pole began." 



A few ponds, mostly artificial, and some insignificant 

 streams supply very insufiicient attraction to the waders 

 and swimming birds, yet the Golden Plover (Charadnus 

 pluvialis) and Dotterel (C. mormellusj annuallj^ frequent 

 the wide fields and warrens, whilst the Ringed-Plover 

 (G. hiaticula) in early spring, comes up from the sea 

 shore, and miles away from the coast selects for its 

 domestic hearth the most barren spots ; such as that 

 must have been on which Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu 

 saw "two Rabbits quarrelling for one blade of gi'ass." 

 Here the wanderer will see in plenty, at any time of the 



