XXXVI INTRODUCTION. 



numbers in 1863 located themselves throughout the 

 summer, and specimens were obtained along the whole 

 line of coast from Blakeney to Holme, where the last 

 of the flight still lingered as late as November. 

 Of other shore-breeding species that still nest on 

 the sand-hills or shingle, even in this comparatively 

 wild district, the list is now sadly limited. The Ringed- 

 Plover, of course the most common, is scattered at 

 intervals over the entire range, and a colony or two 

 of the Lesser Tern frequent their old haunts on the 

 beach, or the noisy "crake" of the Common Tern 

 (Sterna hirundo) reveals their home somewhat further 

 from the sea, amidst the coarse herbage of an oozy 

 salt-marsh. Oyster-catchers (Hcematopus ostralegus) and 

 Sheldrakes (Tadorna vulpanser) once plentiful enough, 

 are to be found breeding only in small and decreasing 

 numbers in the most retired spots about Blakeney and 

 Thornham, and soon, like the Lesser and Common 

 Terns, must be classed with the Black Tern (Sterna 

 fissipes) and Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa melanura), 

 the Bittern (Botaurus stellaris), the Avocet, and other 

 marsh-breeders, which have only ceased to be residents 

 within a very recent period. Stretching away for miles 

 at the back of the sand-hills, a wide tract of marshes, 

 both salt and fresh water, as at Morston, Stiffkey, 

 and Warham, fronts the villages along the coast 

 beyond Holme point; and though at Burnham, 

 Holkham, and Cley, great changes have been effected 

 by extensive reclamation, the whole country is yet 

 strangely wild and attractive to the sporting naturalist. 

 Swamps, pools, and little creeks are the chief features 

 of the marshy levels, and the small ports and tidal 

 channels at Blakeney, Cley, "Wells, Burnham, and 

 Brancaster, afford rich feeding grounds for the shore 

 birds on their sandy flats. At these spots, and more 

 especially along the Blakeney channel, and that portion 



