Bea INt, Gt, a AD. ON Ee 
the country again reduced to a ufelefs morafs*. In the twentieth of Elizabeth the 
ftate of the country was taken into confideration + ; no great matters were done till 
the time of Francis, and William his fon, earls of Bedford, who attempted this 
- Herculean work, and reclamed this vaft traét of more than three hundred thoufand 
acres ; and the laft received, under fanétion of parlement, the juft reward of ninety 
thoufand acres. I fpeak not of the reliques of the antient banks which I have feen 
in Holland, Lincolnfbire, now remote from the fea, nor yet of the Roman tumuli, the 
coins, and other evidences of the refidence of that nation in thefe parts ; they would 
{well a mere preface to too great a length: and, it is to be hoped, will be under- 
taken by the pen of fome native, who will perform it from his aCtual furvey. 
The vaft fenny traéts of thefe counties were in old times the haunts of multi- 
tudes of water-fowl ; but the happy change, by attention to draining, has fubftitut- 
ed in their place thoufands of fheep; or, inftead of reeds, made thofe tracts laugh 
with corn. The Crane, which once abounded in thefe parts, has eyen deferted our 
ifland. The Common Wild Duck ftill breeds in multitudes in the unreclamed 
parts; and thoufands are fent annually to the London markets, from the numerous 
decoys. The Grey Lag Goofe, Br. Zool. ii. N° 266, the origin of the Tame, 
breeds here, and is refident the whole year: a few others of the Duck kind breed 
here. Ruffs, Redfhanks, Lapwings, Red-breafted Godwits, and Whimbrels, 
are found here during fummer ; but, with their young, in autumn, difperfe about 
the ifland. The Short-eared Owl migrates here with the Woodcock, and is 
a welcome gueft to the farmer, by clearing the fields of mice. Knots fwarm on 
the coafts in winter: are taken in numbers in nets: yet none are feen during 
fummer {. The moft diftant north is probably the retreat of the multitude of 
water-fowl of each order which ftock our fhores, driven fouthward by the extreme 
cold: moft of them regularly, others, whofe nature enables them to brave the 
ufual winters of the frigid zone, are with us only accidental guefts, and in feafons 
when the froft rages in their native land with unufual feverity. 
From Clea Ne/s, the land retires weftward, and, with the oppolite fhore of Yorkjhire, 
bounds the great eftuary of the Humber, which, winding deep into the country, is 
the receptacle of the Trent, and all the confiderable rivers of that vaft province ; 
fome of which arife in its moft remote parts. Al] thefe coafts of Lincolnjbire are 
flat, and have been gained from the fea. Barton and Barrow have not at prefent 
the leaft appearance of ports; yet by Holinfhed were ftyled good ones §. Similar 
® Compare Sir W. Dugdale's maps of this tract, in its morafly and drained flate. Hi, Embank. 
P+ 375+ 416. + Same, p. 375: 
} See Tour in Scotland, 1769 ; Lincolnfbire, where the fen birds are enumerated. 
§ Defer. Britainy108, 
b accidents 
Ix- 
