12 FAUNA OF SHROPSHIRE. 



from the sea ; it is thus that such birds as Sandpipers 

 reach us. The political boundaries of Shropshire are, of 

 course, purely artificial, particularly in the north, and it is 

 not necessary here to name the counties which adjoin, but 

 there is one internal division so natural and well-marked that 

 it may be well to study it with the aid of a map. This may 

 be seen at a glance : the division of the County by the river 

 Severn into two portions. If we examine the map closely 

 we shall see that the two portions are of distinct characters. 

 The part that lies to the S.W. is hilly or wooded, while that to 

 the N.E. is comparatively flat and contains numerous pools 

 and some tracts of boggy moors. It was in the first of these 

 two portions that most of the ancient forests of Shropshire 

 were situated (and there are still traces left, as in the Wyre 

 Forest) ; and here it was that the animals before alluded to 

 as living in these forests, were gradually driven to their last 

 sanctuaries and exterminated before the advancing tide of 

 civilization. The whole district is more or less mountainous. 

 The highest hill is Brown Clee (1792 feet), while considerable 

 tracts of land forming parts of the Longmynd range, with 

 the adjoining hills are over 1,000 feet in elevation. The 

 following are some of the principal heights : 



Titterstone Clee ... 1749 Caradoc ... 1506 



Stiperstones ... 1731 Cothercot ... 1457 



Longmynd ... 1696 Wrekin ... 1335 



*Corndon ... 1684 *Breidden ... 1202 



Clun Forest ... 1619 Wenlock Edge.. 900 



Almost all these high lands belong to the older geological 



formations ; they consist of hard rocks, and are barren or of a 



heathy character. The open moorland on the Longmynd is 



the resort of many kinds of birds which are seldom met with 



On the border of Shropshire, in Montgomeryshire. 



