BIRDS shingle, but as the broad extremity is approached it gradually merges into the sand hills which are the normal characteristic of the 'Meals', the shingly depressions lying between the hills form channels into which exceptionally high tides occasionally break, but for the most part they are dry. On the shore side of the shingle bank is a strip of salt-marsh gradually merging into the mud-flats bordering the river. As the shore becomes dryer it is covered with vegetation, first by great sheets of brilliant green marsh- samphire {Salicornia) succeeded by acres of sea lavender {Statice), and higher up still are thickets of Suceda fruticosa offering any amount of shelter. I cannot give a detailed list of the vegetation of this favoured spot and it is more the abundance of the individual plants than the num- ber of the species which is so surprising, but I may say that on a casual visit with my friend, Mr. Geldart, we here collected thirty species of plants. At the close of summer the warm sandy soil under the Suaeda bushes swarms with insect life, which with the seed-bearing plants afford an abundant feast for both insectivorous and fruit-eating birds ; lower down, I have seen the coarse marine vegetation literally blackened with the young of Littorina rudis, and alive with tiny shore-crabs, whilst the tide-pools swarm with countless crustaceans, and the wet sand with marine worms. To the east and west stretch many miles of salt-marsh in the parishes of Salthouse on the one side and Stiffkey and Warham on the other. Such is Blakeney Point, the first landing-place of many a weary migrant on British soil, a spot which seems to have been endowed with all the essentials for their rest and recuperation. No wonder that it should be found so frequently mentioned in the notes which follow, where Cley and Blakeney must be taken as almost synonymous terms. One other at- traction must also be mentioned here — the hospitable lake at Holkham which the Earl of Leicester reserves as a sanctuary for the waterfowl which flock there in immense numbers. I must rest content with giving an extract from my note-book and leave it to speak for itself, but I would remark that the estimate of the number of fowl there mentioned was made by Mr. Alexander Napier, a resident on the spot, and one of the keenest field naturalists and sportsmen I know. On the 21st of February, a few years ago, there were on the lake 3 goldeneyes, 3 male smews, 17 goosanders, i pintail, 4 shovelers, 200 tufted ducks, 40 pochards, 1,000 wigeon, 1,500 mallards, 100 teal, 400 coots, 100 black-headed gulls, Egyptian and Canada geese in numbers and moorhens in great quantity,' whilst on the marshes might be seen at a safe distance great flocks of pink-footed geese feeding at leisure. Mr. Napier tells me that in the present winter (February, 1900) the smews and goosanders are there, and more ducks than he has seen for years. 4th. The ' Breck ' district, a great tract of heath and sheep walk with wide open fields, stretching from south to north on the western side
- It was a sight never to be forgotten, the wigeon feeding and resting on the shore hid
the grass and the mallards were so tame that they simply shuffled off the bank as we ap- proached and swam out, not troubling to take wing ; wonderful as the sight was it was not exceptional. 223
