THE BIRDS OF GREAT YARMOUTH. 155 



of the wading and swimming classes ; its easterly position, the 

 open, exposed, and varied nature of the locality, with its wealth 

 of marsh-land, its spread of waterways, and extensive warrens, 

 offer unusual attractions to those species which may be collec- 

 tively termed wildfowl. The list which follows will amply sup- 

 port this statement. 



Northwards for many miles stretches an array of sadly 

 diminishing sand-hills, or undulating knolls and ridges of blown 

 sand, held together by the roots of the marrum grass (Ammo- 

 phiia arundinacea) , the sand -sedge (Car ex arenaria), Ononis 

 spinosa, and various other deep-rooting dune-plants interesting 

 to the botanist, and in whose seeds, laid bare by the winds of 

 autumn, migratory Buntings and Finches find an abundant supply 

 of food. In turn these sand-dunes have attractions for the Sand- 

 Grouse, the Dotterel, the Great Snipe, and others. 



Nearer the town the sand-hills have been levelled in recent 

 years, and are fronted by a sea-wall and macadamized road, 

 which extends parallel for some distance to the once celebrated 

 North Denes, at one time an extensive area of rounded and 

 broken sand-heaps, covered with acres of furze, now extirpated, 

 and given over to the golfer. A railway runs through the centre 

 of them, and the town keeps slowly creeping northwards beside 

 it. Up to the end of the seventies the Whinchat, Stonechat, 

 Linnet, Wheatear, and even Partridges nested in the whins ; 

 the Wood-Pigeon, Turtle-Dove, Stock-Dove, and Mistle-Thrush 

 came in flocks in summer to feed here. At Caister and beyond, 

 the sand-hills become higher, and the vegetation more varied, 

 the brake, broom, and sea-buckthorn being conspicuous ; and 

 Rabbits abound. The beach below presents a long monotonous 

 level of clear firm sand, sparsely " shingled " or pebbled, with 

 few tide-pools; spring tides cover the sands almost to the sand 

 cliffs. Until within the past year or two a few Ringed Plovers 

 have persevered in nesting among the higher patches of shingle, 

 the site chosen being a depression probably caused by a horse's 

 hoof, the bottom of which is usually lined with small pieces of 

 shell or thin white chalky stones. Constant traffic has banished 

 this bird, the only species known to have nested there within 

 the memory of man. One nest was found on the south beach 

 in 1899. 



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