264 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE BIRDS OF GODALMING. 



person is the author of various papers in Loudon's Magazine 

 of Natural History, and other journals, under the signature of 

 "Rusticus;" and the fourth, a long resident at Godalming, 

 and a frequent participator in the discoveries of the other three. 

 This fourth (although the least capable) individual is the com- 

 piler of this paper. One bird is introduced on the authority of 

 White, of Selbourne. 



Godalming is situate thirty-four miles S.S.W. of London, in 

 the county of Surrey ; the town stands in a low situation on 

 the river Wey, and is completely surrounded by little hills, the 

 various ascents of which present pleasing prospects in every 

 direction. The soil is a bright red sand, which extends from 

 the chalky range of cold, poverty-stricken Downs, crossing the 

 country from Reigate to Farnham ; between the chalk and the 

 sand is an exceedingly narrow tract of blue clay, sometimes 

 scarcely ten yards in width. These three distinct soils do not 

 gradually intermingle, but are separated by the most abrupt 

 transition, and their effect on the produce where the three soils 

 occur in the same field is very marked. The sandy soil pro- 

 duces a variety of surface; in most parts it is excessively poor, 

 and wholly unprofitable to man : when this is the case, if 

 situated on the low grounds, it becomes an almost continuous 

 marsh, occasionally presenting immense sheets of water ; these 

 ponds, in the process of time, enrich the soil which they cover, 

 and make it worth the expense of draining; — thus the once fine 

 piece of water, known as Old Pond, has been embanked, 

 divided, drained, and filled at different times and in various 

 ways,^until nearly an hundred acres are redeemed and devoted 

 to agriculture ; still it is a pool of respectable dimensions, and is 

 a site around which some of my memory's most unfaded flowers 

 have been wreathed. In many places this labour would be ill 

 bestowed, and we find fine pools of water that have existed for 

 centuries all along that valley which winds by Peperharrow, 

 Elsted, Frensham, Thursley, the Pudmores, Headley, &c. 

 Ascending thence by Bramshot to Liphook, we find a track of 

 similar surface as regards vegetation, producing heath, furze, 

 and wortleberry, but now light and dry, and easily scattered by 

 the wind ; this is a peculiar character of Hindhead. Wherever 

 the sand bears the red tint of iron, the chief natural produce is 

 furze ; but this colour, as we proceed westward, yields to a blue 

 tint. The two colours stain the wool of the sheep, which 



