502 MR. W. G. CLARKE ON THE MERES OF WRETHAM HEATH. 
and a pair of Mallard, were swimming on Ringmere on March 
25th, 1893, the water then being at a medium height. On the 
15th of the following April, the only birds on the mere were a pair 
of Little Grebe. The water was rather low on May 26th, 1894, but 
Coots were present in abundance. The autumn was a very wet one, 
yet on November 25th, Ringmere was lower than I had previously 
seen it. There was no sign of life on or around it. Where the 
waters had receded, thousands of empty shells of the freshwater 
whelk had been left on the mud. There were four distinct zones, 
each several inches in width quite round the mere. The water was 
still very low on Christmas Day and a Hooded Crow was the 
only sign of bird-life. Early in September, 1895, the level 
was approximately the same, with about twenty Coots on its 
surface. It had changed from its usual circular form to a more 
oval shape. It was much higher on November 6th of the follow- 
ing year. There was scarcely any water in Ringmere, as Mr. 
Southwell records, on March 18th, 1899. In the September of 
1901 all the meres became quite dry. Ringmere was so dry on 
May 17th, 1902, that I walked all over its bed. The mud had not 
become grass-grown and was fissured as one might suppose it would 
be from a miniature local earthquake. Shells of Limncea peregra 
were almost as common as those of L. star/7ialis. A few birch 
posts projected from the mud on the northern bank of the mere ; 
but there is said to have been at one time a boathouse on the spot. 
The bed of tbe mere was fairly level, save for one place about six 
feet across and six inches lower than the remainder. This is 
almost in the centre, but slightly nearer the southern shore, and 
may possibly be the result of excavation when the pit was last dry. 
When Hill Mere was drained, a circular hole about 4| feet in 
diameter, and some six feet deeper than the bottom of the mere 
was found, and seemed to have been the site of a pile-dwelling. 
There were no traces of moles in the bed of Ringmere, but numerous 
well-defined hare and rabbit runs were beaten down smooth in 
striking contrast to the remainder of the surface. On September 
4th, 1902, the bed of Ringmere was filled with a closely-matted 
growth from a foot to eighteen inches in height of spotted 
persicaria and curled dock, while on the old shores were scorpion 
grass and golden water-dock in abundance, but no trace of 
water. 
