vi 
Coasts OF Bai- 
TAIN. 
Su?Frork AND 
Norrove. 
mes BR Ga. A a 
FRaNcF, as it exceeds in variation of climate, fo it exceeds us in the number of 
{pecies of birds. We can boaft of only one hundred and thirty-one kinds of land- — 
birds, and one hundred and twenty-one of water-fowl. France, on the contrary, 
has one hundred and fifty-fix of the firft, and one hundred and thirteen of the laft. 
This computation may not be quite accurate; for no one has as yet attempted its 
Fauna, which muf be very numerous, in a kingdom which extends from Calais, im 
about lat. 51, to Ceifioure in the fouth of Rouffillon, on the Mediterranean fea, in 
about lat. 42. The northern parts poflefs the birds in common with England: and 
in all probability the provinces in the A/editerranean annually are vifited by various 
{pecies from northern Africa. 
Stupendous and precipitous ranges of chalky cliffs attend the coaft, from Dover 
eaftward, and, from their color, gave the name of //bion to our ifland. Beneath one 
of them anchored Ce/ar, fifty-five years before CurisT, and fo near as to be capable 
of being annoyed by the darts of the Britons. After weighing anchor, he failed up a 
bay, now occupied by meadows, and landed at Rutupium, Richborough, oppofite to 
the prefent Sandwich. The wails of the former ftill evince its antient ftrength ; 
and. the veftiges of a quay, now bounded by a ditch, points out the anchorage of 
the Reman commerce. The adjacent Thanet, the Thanatos of the antients, at pre- 
fent indiftinguifhable from the main land, was in old times an ifland, feparated by 
a deep channel, from a mile and a half to four miles in width, the fite of Roman 
fettlements ; and, in 449, celebrated for having been the firft landing-place of the 
invading Saxons ; to whom it was affigned as a place of fecurity by the imprudent 
Vortigern. But fuch a change has time effeGted, that Thanet no more exifts as an 
ifland; and the Britanniarum Portus, in which rode the Roman navies, is now filled - 
with marfhy meads. 
After pafling the lofty chalky promontory, the North Foreland, opens the eftuary 
of the Thames, bounded on each fide by low fhores, and its channels divided by 
numerous fand-banks; fecurely pafled, by reafon of the perfeCtion of navigation, 
by thoufands of fhips- frequenting annually London, our emporium, envied nearly 
to impending decline. 
On the projecting coafts of Suffolé and Norfol, arife, in certain intervals, emi- 
nences of different matter. Loamy cliffs appear about Leo/foffz, Dunwich, &c. 
The Crag-pits about Woodbridge, are prodigious pits of fea-fhells, many of them 
perfect and quite folid; an inexhauftible fund of manure for arable Jands. About 
Yarmouth, and from thence beyond Wintertone/s, the coaft is low, flat, and com- 
pofed of fhingle, backed by fand. From Hap/burgh to Cramer are a range of lofty 
clayey precipices, rifing from the height of forty to a hundred feet perpendicular; - 
a prey to the ocean, which has effected great changes in thefe parts. About 
Sherringham and Cle, it rifes into pretty and gentle hills, foping down into a 
I rough 
