XXXIV INTKODUCTION. 



out from more inland waters, desporting itself on this 

 salt lake with the true marine Divers. 



More inland, the view is bounded by hills, stretching 

 away to the west like a small mountain chain, and wide 

 heaths and furzy commons, abounding in game, are 

 remnants of a yet wilder district before inclosure and 

 cultivation effected many changes. The ^^ stubbing up" 

 of such fine old woods, as till very recently existed at 

 Holt and Edgefield, has all helped to change the 

 features of this portion of the county; but the pretty 

 vale of the Grlaven is richly wooded, and within easy 

 flight from the coast, at either Weybourne or Salt- 

 house, are the Letheringsett plantations, with the 

 Kelling, Hanworth, Stody, and Hempstead preserves. 

 Further inland, again, are the noble park and woods 

 of Melton Constable, comprising altogether some 

 eight hundred acres, which, with those adjoining at 

 Swanton Novers, are the most noted for Woodcocks 

 of any in the county. At Hempstead, a chain of 

 small ponds, and a now unused decoy, lying m the 

 very midst of the coverts, are the constant resort in 

 winter of Teal, Wigeon, Pochards, and other fowl, 

 whilst the reed-beds and swampy borders are well 

 stocked with Coots, Rails, and Water-Hens. On the 

 great heaths and "brecks," also, about Weybourne, 

 Hempstead, and Kelling, the Lapwing, and Norfolk- 

 Plover bred formerly in large quantities, but are 

 now almost exterminated through egging and other 

 causes, and where large baskets full of Lapwing's 

 eggs were taken some twenty years ago, scarcely a 

 nest can be found at the present time. The great 

 increase, however, in fir-plantations both here and in 

 other districts, and the absence of any resident Eaptores 

 to thin their ranks, has led to an enormous increase in 

 the number of Wood-Pigeons (Columba palumbusj ; and 

 the Turtle-Dove (Columba turturj, not many years ago 



