BIRDS from Lowestoft Harbour inland to Norwich, and thence in a north- easterly direction to the sea at Happisburgh. So much has been written about the Norfolk broads of late that it will suffice to say most of them are situated adjacent to the river Bare or between that river and the sea. Two, however, Surlingham and Rockland Broads, are on the river Yare, within five or six miles of Norwich, and the picturesque lake known as Fritton Decoy, with its active decoy, is in Lothingland, south of Yarmouth. These broads are of all sizes, from mere ' pulk-holes ' to Hickling, the extent of which is about 464 acres, and Breydon, with its 1,295 ^cres at high tide. In all, large and small, there are something over forty of them. They are estimated to cover some 5,000 acres with water. Some are deep, others shallow, some wooded to the water's edge, but most of them are deeply fringed with reed-beds and surrounded by many acres of sedgy marsh. In this section was the breeding-place in former times of the cormorant and the spoonbill, the bittern, godwit, avocet, and black terns innumerable, harriers and ruffs, many ducks and waterfowl, and the rare Savi's warbler. Most of these are lost to us, but some still remain in greatly reduced numbers. As Breydon Water (A.-S. brcedan, to spread out or broaden) will be so often mentioned in the notes which follow, it seems desirable to devote a few lines to its more particular description. This great tidal lake at its upper end receives the united waters of the rivers Yare and Waveney, with other smaller streams, and near its outlet at the town of Great Yarmouth is entered by yet another river, the Bure, or ' North River,' which flows from the north-west.' At high water it is nearly four miles in length and not quite a mile in width at its broadest part, but when the tide is out it presents a vast expanse of mud-flat, intersected by drains and creeks, the drier portions covered with aquatic vegetation, the whole forming an ideal resting and feeding place for waterfowl innumerable. The river Yare and the walls of Breydon from Reedham to Yarmouth, a distance of about six miles, form the southern boundary of a great alluvial plain some 14,000 acres in extent, formerly one of the finest snipe grounds in England, and the breeding-place of vast numbers of ruffs, redshank and lapwings, but now drained, and affording summer pasturage to large herds of cattle and sheep. This Breydon has probably produced more rare ducks and waders than any like extent in the kingdom. I will only mention a few which have been added to the list of British migrants from birds first obtained at or near this favoured water and its affluents : Savi's warbler, red-footed falcon, pectoral sandpiper, Siberian pectoral sand- piper, broad-billed sandpiper, white-winged tern, Caspian tern, Caspian plover, red-crested pochard, and on the adjoining coast the buffle-headed and Steller's ducks ; to which might be added many other species almost equally rare. 2nd. The ' Cliff' district lies chiefly at the north-east corner of the county, between Happisburgh and Weybourne. The cliffs vary in height
- The rivers of Norfolk have been estimated to extend to a length of some 200 miles.
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