4
THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
for centuries) under a high state of cultivation, and not more
thickly populated than purely agricultural regions usually are. A
comparatively small proportion is under grass, the larger area being
arable land, chiefly used in the production of cereals. Through-
out the area there is an abundance of old hedgerows, wide over-
grown ditches, quiet lanes, and small copses and woods, which
afford a home for innumerable small warblers and finches, to say
nothing of larger species. Inland sheets of water are conspicu-
ously lacking throughout the county, there being none, I believe,
of any consequence, except the artificial, ornamental lakes in private
grounds, of which the principal are probably those in Wanstead,
Gosfield and Debden Parks.
(3.) Forests and Woodlands. These, although they do not
cover a very large aggregate area, are tolerably extensive in certain
places, especially where the higher grounds and hill-tops are capped
with the Bagshot Gravel, rendering them of little value for agri-
cultural purposes, as in Epping Forest, around Brentwood and
Thorndon, in the Writtle High Woods, on Danbury Hill, Tiptree
Heath, and elsewhere. In these districts the more purely woodland
species especially abound. Hawks, except the Sparrow-hawk, the
Kestrel, and rarely the Hobby, are now exterminated, also the Raven,
so far as the inland parts of our county are concerned; but the
Carrion Crow is not uncommon in places, and the Jay abounds. In
Epping Forest, the Hawfinch is perhaps commoner than anywhere
else in England. Strictly speaking, this region cannot be separated
from the last, of which it forms a part.
(4.) Marshes and Saltings. This region is naturally con-
fined to the coast. Though of considerable extent, when con-
trasted with similar districts in other counties, it is small when
compared with the area of the whole county. "Marshes," in
Essex, are tracts of land which have at some past time been re-
claimed from the sea, and are now protected against its inroads by an
artificial sea-wall. They are chiefly under grass, being of considerable
value as grazing lands, and are not particularly moist, though low-
lying. They are intersected with numerous wide ditches known as
" fleets," and interspersed with reedy pools of open water. " Salt-
ings " are those pieces of land which have not been enclosed from
the sea, yet are not, strictly speaking, sea-shore, inasmuch as they are
completely uncovered at low-tide. Their surface, indeed, though
lying entirely outside the sea-wall, is seldom even covered with
water, except for a short time twice a day during high tide, and