206 LONGSHORE MEMORIES 
of French partridges came to our shore from seawards, 
and there dropped and lay exhausted. Some of our 
folks filled baskets full with them before they could re- 
cover sufficiently to get inland. They were in prime 
condition. That was in the afternoon ; the next day 
not a single bird of that species could be found. 
Some way or other they had certainly made a mis- 
take in their reckonings. A calm day it was, too, 
without any wind. That summer was a glorious one ; 
many of the migrating birds stayed very late. Some 
bitterns were shot the ' yaller French herns ' so 
called because they were rather common on the Essex 
coast and some portions of the Kentish flats at the 
time we were at war with France, or, as our folks 
said, ' that year we fit Old Boney.' 
Spots such as that called ' the Marsh Fleet ' are 
fast vanishing day by day. It lay in Kent, close to 
the Essex shore. 
As we near the Fleet, or lagoon, for such it really 
is, the sun floods the whole extent of marsh and dis- 
tant shore in a soft golden light. The cattle and the 
sheep look almost twice their natural size as they 
stand or lie half hidden in the long lush vegetation. 
Sails of vessels show in fine contrast to the green of 
the flats some a flash of warm yellow, others gleam- 
ing red in the sun. The craft make their way slowly 
