4 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



for centuries) under a high state of cultivation, and not more 

 thickly populated than purely agricultural regions usually are. A 

 comparatively small proportion is under grass, the larger area being 

 arable land, chiefly used in the production of cereals. Through- 

 out the area there is an abundance of old hedgerows, wide over- 

 grown ditches, quiet lanes, and small copses and woods, which 

 afford a home for innumerable small warblers and finches, to say 

 nothing of larger species. Inland sheets of water are conspicu- 

 ously lacking throughout the county, there being none, I believe, 

 of any consequence, except the artificial, ornamental lakes in private 

 grounds, of which the principal are probably those in Wanstead, 

 Gosfield and Debden Parks. 



(3.) Forests and Woodlands. These, although they do not 

 cover a very large aggregate area, are tolerably extensive in certain 

 places, especially where the higher grounds and hill-tops are capped 

 with the Bagshot Gravel, rendering them of little value for agri- 

 cultural purposes, as in Epping Forest, around Brentwood and 

 Thorndon, in the Writtle High Woods, on Danbury Hill, Tiptree 

 Heath, and elsewhere. In these districts the more purely woodland 

 species especially abound. Hawks, except the Sparrow-hawk, the 

 Kestrel, and rarely the Hobby, are now exterminated, also the Raven, 

 so far as the inland parts of our county are concerned ; but the 

 Carrion Crow is not uncommon in places, and the Jay abounds. In 

 Epping Forest, the Hawfinch is perhaps commoner than anywhere 

 else in England. Strictly speaking, this region cannot be separated 

 from the last, of which it forms a part. 



(4.) Marshes and Saltings. This region is naturally con- 

 fined to the coast. Though of considerable extent, when con- 

 trasted with similar districts in other counties, it is small when 

 compared with the area of the whole county. " Marshes," in 

 Essex, are tracts of land which have at some past time been re- 

 claimed from the sea, and are now protected against its inroads by an 

 artificial sea-wall. They are chiefly under grass, being of considerable 

 value as grazing lands, and are not particularly moist, though low- 

 lying. They are intersected with numerous wide ditches known as 

 "fleets," and interspersed with reedy pools of open water. "Salt- 

 ings " are those pieces of land which have not been enclosed from 

 the sea, yet are not, strictly speaking, sea-shore, inasmuch as they are 

 completely uncovered at low-tide. Their surface, indeed, though 

 lying entirely outside the sea-wall, is seldom even covered with 

 water, except for a short time twice a day during high tide, and 



