of the Bearded Tit. 81 



most important parts of the equipment of the Norfolk 

 wherry the " Quant " is, by the bye, a memorial of 

 the days of Roman occupation. It was with a quant, 

 spelt a little differently in Virgil's day, that Sergestus 

 in the immortal boat race tried to shove off his galley 

 when he had cut his corner too finely and run aground; 

 and with a quant that Charon ferried his passengers 

 across the Styx : 



" Ipse ratem conto subigit velisque ministrat." 



The entire district is unlike anything else in 

 England, and, apart from its power of recalling the 

 past, has an exceptional interest of its own for 

 naturalists. It is the paradise of shy creatures of 

 all sorts, birds especially, which love mud, or water, 

 or reeds ; and has been the last settled English home 

 of more than one rare species. Their number, in spite 

 of the keener interest taken of late years by land- 

 owners in bird preservation, steadily decreases. 



The Avocet, with its spindle shanks and beak 

 turned up like a shoemaker's awl, which not very 

 long ago bred so freely in the salt marshes that 

 "poor people made puddings and pancakes" with 

 their eggs, is now the rarest accidental visitor. The 

 Bittern, comparatively lately a regular breeder there, 

 no longer " guards his nest " among the sedges and 

 reeds ; and Ruffs and Reeves are as rare as they 

 once were common. But there is or at least till 

 last year was one little bird which, driven from 

 every other part of England, has made the Broads 

 his own peculiar property, and himself thoroughly 

 at home there. Hardy and modest in his wants, 

 the Bearded Tit has been essentially a home-staying 

 bird. His ancestors seem to have elected, genera- 

 tions ago, that, whatever the advantage of a winter 



