256 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



and hang there. Now, although they may have 

 been feeding on such quaking bog-land that a stone 

 the size of your fist would bury itself therein of 

 its own weight, no dirt-stains will you find on the 

 meshed birds. 



That curious wader, the avocet or cobler's awl 

 duck, as he was called, from the shape of his bill, 

 was not considered rare in my own time. This 

 we believe he now is ; for the greater part of the 

 spots he frequented have been drained. Godwits, 

 or red-breasted snipes, as they were called by our 

 shooters, were considered, in our immediate neigh- 

 bourhood, as out of the common. Romney Marsh 

 flighters, they were styled, a name very much to 

 the point, for at that time Romney Marsh was 

 their abiding-place. 



Then we have the redshank, pool - snipe, teuke 

 or took, sandcock, red-leg, red-legged horseman; 

 all these names are given to him, as well as another, 

 which exactly expresses the main characteristic of 

 the bird, the cussed yelper; and he certainly does 

 yelp. If wild-fowl possess the virtue of gratitude, 

 they must quack, bark, whistle, shriek, and grunt 

 untold blessings on the redshank's head, for the 



