the very existence of the iMere in his time, much less of that 
feathered colony for wliich it has so long been celebi'ated. 
i’o Sir Tlios. Browne, however, we are indebted for tlie hict, 
that Scoulton, and Horsey, near Yarmouth, were noted haunts, 
some two hundred years ago, of the Larns alba, or jjewit gull, as, 
in his “Account of Birds found in Xorfolk,” he remarks, “great 
plenty thereof have bred about Scoulton Meers, and from thence 
sent to London.” Further back than this we fail to trace any 
record of tlieni, l)ut, if the drainage of two of the Wretham 
Mere.s, (a former haunt of tlie same species of gull,) afforded evi- 
<lcnce of the remains, in tho.se waters, of “ pile buildings”— tin; 
lacustrine habitations of a pre-historic race of men, (contemporarv. 
in this county, with the red deer and the extinct /Aw longi/rons,) 
we need assign, I think, no narrower limit to the existence of 
Scoulton gallery, and may fairly s]>eak of the ancient tenure of 
these birds as from time immemorial. 
It Avould be idle to speculate upon the possible condition of 
Scoulton l\Iere and its surroundings at that remote period, but I 
question if the general aspect of the locality had much altered 
frt)iu the time of Sir d'hoinas Browne* until the close of the last 
century, when drainage and cultivation commenced those changes 
which have since reverseil, in this county, the proi)ortions of arable 
to heath, fen, and woodland. 
A\e may picture the Mere in those days, with its central island 
or hearth, + as lying in the midst of a wild, ojjcn country, pre- 
senting, on a large scale, very similar features to the few “ wet” 
commons still existing in Xorfolk. On all sides a wide extent of 
marshy ground, dotted here and there with “pulk” holes and 
“ plashes,” each fringed with a rank growth of reeds and sedges, 
would be the constant resort of the lapwing, the redshank, and 
the snipe, whilst beyond, and rising gradually from the swampy 
level, the uplands, clothed with heath, furze, and braken, would 
extend over many hundred acres, as yet untouched by the plough 
—a rabbit warren, and nui-sery for the Xorfolk plover, (^(Uenemus 
crppitaus.) In wet seasons, the unbanked margin of the Mere 
would fail to contain its waters within their normal limits, and 
* This learned physician and naturalist died in 16SS. 
+ So pronouncetl at the present day in this locality, hut the same word is 
written “ haft” in Bewick’s descrij>tion of this .species of gull. 
