DISTRIBUTION OF THE BIRDS OF SUFFOLK. 261 



from Lowestoft towards Yarmouth northwards, while the 

 cliffs of Pakefield and Kessingland trend southwards to 

 Sole Bay and Easton Broad Nothing at all like a sub- 

 alpine region is to be found anywhere in Suffolk. The 

 country consists, for the most part, of gently undulating 

 fields, and, in some parts, of perfectly level plains. The 

 fields are sometimes very large, and are divided by hedges, 

 which are no longer of the same height or breadth as 

 formerly. On some roadsides, however, high hedges are 

 still to be seen. 



On the coast there is abundance of sand and shingle, 

 more especially on Orford beach, the acreage of which is 

 probably larger than anything else of the kind on the east 

 coast, and there are some mud-flats and salt marshes, 

 especially near Aldborough ; there are fine bays, havens, and 

 creeks, but no cliffs of any great height, merely, in some places, 

 a low range of the Suffolk crag, as at Felixstowe, Dunwich, 

 and Southwold. Masses of indurated London clay crop out at 

 low water at Felixstowe, and are, so far as I know, the only 

 approach to rocks above the surface occurring anywhere in 

 the county.* 



Adjoining the sea there are considerable estuaries 

 formed by the Stour, the Orwell, and the JDeben, reaching 

 up to Manningtree, Ipswich, and Woodbridge respectively. 

 There are also large pieces of water, of a brackish character, 

 particularly Breydon Water, Lake Lothing, and Thorpe 

 Mere. Breydon is a magnificent tidal lake of some twelve 

 hundred acres in extent, about five miles long by two-thirds 

 of a mile wide ; the deep water channel of the river passing 

 through it is comparatively narrow, and is marked by painted 

 posts to guide the vessels sailing across ; the mud flats on 

 each side, which are covered twice a day by the tide, offer 

 rich feeding grounds for fowl and for fish ; they are bounded 

 by a strong bank to keep in the water, and are without 

 reeds or trees. It is here, as has been already said, that 



* For an account of the strata below see Dr. Taylor in White's History of 

 the surface, and of the geology in general, Suffolk, pp. 67 — 83, 3rd. Ed. 



