310 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



on the Bui'e and the Ant, where as yet the whistle of 

 the locomotive is unknown, and a country wild in the 

 extreme, and for the most part preserved, offers the 

 most favourable conditions. About Horsey, Hickling, 

 and Heig'ham Sounds, and again at Horning-, Eanworth, 

 and Hoveton, whether in summer or winter, they are 

 mostly abundant ; and on the Yare, owing to careful 

 preservation of late years, many still remain, in favour- 

 able seasons, in the neighbourhood of Surlingham, and 

 some in the marshes about Langley and Buckenham, 

 which, though now drained by steam, are specially 

 mentioned in Lubbock's " Fauna " as more frequented 

 than others by snipes in the breeding season "being 

 there protected from the unfair system of ' egging.' " 

 Indeed, the wide extent of marshes which the railroad 

 now traverses, with but little intermission between 

 Norwich and Yarmouth, and where, in Sir Thomas 

 Browne's tim^s, the ruff and reeve bred freely with 

 other grallatorial species, was formerly reckoned the 

 best snipe ground, in Norfolk. 



Besides the above localities, a few scattered pairs 

 may be found breeding in almost all parts of the 

 county, wherever favourable spots present themselves. 

 To the western fens, though in greatly decreased num- 

 bers, they still resort annually in spite of all changes, 

 as also to that small chain of fens bordering upon the 

 river Thet, in the south-western part of the county, 

 and the swampy margins or islands of the "Meres," 

 which are chiefly situated in that neighbourhood. At 

 Scoulton, near Hingham, many are bred annually on 

 that portion of the " hearth " or island, in the centre 

 of the Mere, which is least frequented by the black- 

 headed gulls. A few "wet" commons, also, still happily 

 preserved to us, form a summer habitat for this species, 

 with the lapwing and redshank. Flordon Common to 

 the south-east, on a tributary of the Taesj Walton 



