BIRDS 



shingle, but as the broad extremity is approached it gradually merges into 

 the sand hills which are the normal characteristic of the 'Meals', the shingly 

 depressions lying between the hills form channels into which exceptionally 

 high tides occasionally break, but for the most part they are dry. On the 

 shore side of the shingle bank is a strip of salt-marsh gradually merging 

 into the mud-flats bordering the river. As the shore becomes dryer it is 

 covered with vegetation, first by great sheets of brilliant green marsh- 

 samphire {Salicornia) succeeded by acres of sea lavender {Statice), and 

 higher up still are thickets of Suceda fruticosa offering any amount of 

 shelter. I cannot give a detailed list of the vegetation of this favoured 

 spot and it is more the abundance of the individual plants than the num- 

 ber of the species which is so surprising, but I may say that on a casual 

 visit with my friend, Mr. Geldart, we here collected thirty species of 

 plants. At the close of summer the warm sandy soil under the Suaeda 

 bushes swarms with insect life, which with the seed-bearing plants afford 

 an abundant feast for both insectivorous and fruit-eating birds ; lower 

 down, I have seen the coarse marine vegetation literally blackened with 

 the young of Littorina rudis, and alive with tiny shore-crabs, whilst the 

 tide-pools swarm with countless crustaceans, and the wet sand with marine 

 worms. To the east and west stretch many miles of salt-marsh in the 

 parishes of Salthouse on the one side and Stiffkey and Warham on the 

 other. Such is Blakeney Point, the first landing-place of many a weary 

 migrant on British soil, a spot which seems to have been endowed with all 

 the essentials for their rest and recuperation. No wonder that it should 

 be found so frequently mentioned in the notes which follow, where Cley 

 and Blakeney must be taken as almost synonymous terms. One other at- 

 traction must also be mentioned here — the hospitable lake at Holkham 

 which the Earl of Leicester reserves as a sanctuary for the waterfowl 

 which flock there in immense numbers. I must rest content with giving 

 an extract from my note-book and leave it to speak for itself, but I would 

 remark that the estimate of the number of fowl there mentioned was 

 made by Mr. Alexander Napier, a resident on the spot, and one of the 

 keenest field naturalists and sportsmen I know. On the 21st of February, 

 a few years ago, there were on the lake 3 goldeneyes, 3 male smews, 17 

 goosanders, i pintail, 4 shovelers, 200 tufted ducks, 40 pochards, 1,000 

 wigeon, 1,500 mallards, 100 teal, 400 coots, 100 black-headed gulls, 

 Egyptian and Canada geese in numbers and moorhens in great quantity,' 

 whilst on the marshes might be seen at a safe distance great flocks of 

 pink-footed geese feeding at leisure. Mr. Napier tells me that in the 

 present winter (February, 1900) the smews and goosanders are there, 

 and more ducks than he has seen for years. 



4th. The ' Breck ' district, a great tract of heath and sheep walk 

 with wide open fields, stretching from south to north on the western side 



* It was a sight never to be forgotten, the wigeon feeding and resting on the shore hid 

 the grass and the mallards were so tame that they simply shuffled off the bank as we ap- 

 proached and swam out, not troubling to take wing ; wonderful as the sight was it was not 

 exceptional. 



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