A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



of the county, bordering on the Fens. Here was the home of the great 

 bustard and is still that of the stone curlew, ring plover and of several 

 species of ducks which abound in the curious lakes known as ' meres,' 

 found more especially on the lonely heaths about Wretham and Merton. 



5th. The ' Fen ' district in the extreme west of the county, which 

 extends from Brandon to Lynn, and is bounded by the counties of 

 Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. This also includes some 57,000 

 acres of reclaimed land known as marshland. The ' Fens ' in past times 

 abounded with the three species of harriers, the bittern, ruff, black 

 tern, and many other birds. This division also shared with the ' Broads,' 

 the distinction of harbouring Savi's warbler, but (like the other species 

 enumerated) it has disappeared before improved drainage which has 

 changed this division of the county perhaps more than any other, the 

 only piece of true sedge-fen remaining being at Wicken in Cambridge- 

 shire. 



The remaining division, the 6th, or ' Enclosed,' district, comprises 

 the central portion of the county extending from Norwich to the 

 boundary of the ' Breck,' and from the Suffolk border in the south, north- 

 ward to the sea. This area includes the most highly cultivated portion 

 of the county, and is, as a rule, well timbered and divided into small 

 enclosures by hedgerows ; it abounds with the numerous species of birds 

 usually frequenting highly cultivated lands, and, being a great game 

 country, is as a rule strictly preserved. 



The easterly position of the county of Norfolk, together with its ex- 

 tensive sea-board and the favoured retreats already alluded to, offer excep- 

 tional attractions to the great army of passing migrants which at certain 

 seasons of the year perform their perilous journeys, and no part of the 

 kingdom is more favourably situated for the observation of these periodic 

 movements. The autumnal advent is thus described by Mr. Gurney : — 

 ' The vast army is heralded by the arrival in September of redstarts, wheat- 

 ears, pied flycatchers, whitethroats, nightjars, little stints, pigmy curlews, 

 etc. ; but when October sets in, the greatest influx takes place . . . 

 Buzzards, and other birds of prey, soar aloft in circles, while the eye 

 which knows her flight will catch the distant peregrine falcon, or more 

 frequently the kestrel or merlin. Short-eared owls are discovered in 

 flocks of fifteen or twenty ; and the gamekeeper, going his morning 

 rounds, finds that long before he was up there had been an early 

 arrival of jays and sparrow-hawks. Straggling parties of grey crows, 

 jackdaws, and rooks dot the air for days together, while snow-buntings 

 and flocks of chaffinches appear in the fields nearest to the sea. 

 Bramblings, twites, siskins, shore-larks and mealy redpolls are heard of at 

 our birdcatchers', snipe and plovers are seen on the marshes. Sky-larks 

 come over in clouds, and, mingled with them, are regiments of starlings 

 flying westward with steady purpose. The woodcock, tired with the long 

 flight from Norway, halts to rest after his nocturnal journey in the first 

 plantation he reaches, or drops among the sandhills. The fieldfare and 

 redwing appear, and the number of song-thrushes and blackbirds in the 



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