INTRODUCTION. 1x1 



shelter to birds, wliicli were formerly but seldom seen 

 in such localities. The Nightingale, some few years 

 back, confined almost entirely to the vicinity of Thorpe, 

 is now heard during the summer on nearly every road 

 leading out of the city ; and the Blackcap, the Willow- 

 Wren, and the Garden- Warbler, join their melody to 

 the rich notes of the Thrush and Blackbird, and with 

 their young broods in autumn, hide amidst the thick 

 foliage of the laurustinus and other bushy shrubs, till 

 the time for migration arrives. 



The same remarks as to planting apply as well, 

 though in a far greater degree, to the Hamlets, and the 

 country immediately surrounding them, and few spots 

 in the county afford more picturesque scenery than the 

 rich valleys of the Yare and the Wensum. To the north 

 and east of the city are the wooded heights of Thorpe 

 and Whitlingham and the far-famed Mousehold-heath, 

 so often mentioned in historical records. In early times, 

 as we learn from Blomefield,* a large portion of this 

 wild district consisted of sheep-walks, and the heath 

 itself abounded with timber and brushwood, but all this 

 had disappeared long prior to its enclosure in 1810, 

 although even in the time of our county historian (who 

 died in 1751), it was some four or five miles in length 

 and breadth. It would be amusing to speculate on the 

 rarer species that in former times may have frequented 

 this "breezy common," but the Lapwing and Norfolk- 

 Plover were always plentiful, nor has either species 

 ceased altogether to breed in that neighbourhood up 

 to the present time. Of the latter a pair or two 

 have bred regularly for the last twenty years, near 

 the same plantation, on the high grounds at Thorpe, 

 and being strictly preserved will, it is to be hoped, 



* " An Essay towards a topographical history of the county 

 of Norfolk." By Francis Blomefield, Rector of Fersfield. 



