438 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



splendid grazing " marshes," which characterize the eastern por- 

 tion of the county of Norfolk, and which term, however correct 

 it may be from a strictly etymological point of view, is certainly 

 in the present case misleading, and a breach of a convenient 

 distinction perfectly understood by the inhabitants of the respec- 

 tive districts. 



The "Fen" district of Norfolk is perfectly distinct both in its 

 physical aspect, its geological formation, the character of its in- 

 habitants, and to a considerable extent in its fauna and flora, from 

 the eastern M marshes"; it is entirely confined, as has been said, 

 to the south-western portion of the county, and, although sharply 

 defined on the whole, its outline is much broken. Commencing 

 near Brandon, its eastern boundary follows the high land in an 

 irregular line near to the towns of Hockwold, Feltwell, Methwold, 

 and Stoke Ferry, at which latter point it takes a sudden bend 

 westward along the valley of the Wissey to Fordbam, ap- 

 proaching nearly to the river Ouse, and, after sending off a 

 branch along the Nar valley, is continued nearly up to the town 

 of Lynn. To the west it merges in the great Cambridgeshire 

 Fens, and includes the north-west corner of Norfolk, rightly 

 known as " Marshland," the whole forming a portion of the great 

 Bedford Level. Marshland, properly so called, and rightly dis- 

 tinguished even here from the adjoining fens, consists of some 

 57,000 acres of very fertile land, which have gradually been 

 recovered from the sea by means of artificial embankments, and 

 is absolutely distinct both in name and origin from the adjoining 

 "Fens." In an article entitled "The Fens and Fen-Folk," 

 which appeared in the * Transactions ' of the Norfolk and Norwich 

 Naturalists' Society (vol. iii. p. 610), I endeavoured to convey 

 some idea of the past and present condition of this remarkable 

 tract of country, as well as of its former inhabitants, a totally 

 different race to the hardy sons of Norsemen inhabiting the north 

 and east coasts of Norfolk; to this article I must refer your 

 readers should they care to pursue the subject, but perhaps I 

 may be allowed to quote a few passages from an address which I 

 had the honour to deliver to the same Society at their Annual 

 Meeting in 1894, briefly referring to the same subject : — 



" Of the true Fen there is little left to enable any conception 

 to be formed as to its appearance, even, say, a century ago, much 



