• * The Snuggest Sanctuary
• All the world knows the name of some of the Norfolk sanc- tuaries—of Scolt Head that almost island," where Miss Turner made more fame than . she , desired as " the lonely Watcher " ; Illakency, where the sea swallows nest so thickly that there is scarcely room for your fret between the ()tactics, and Cley, Where the duck abound and Spoonbills and Bulls mass appear. In the care and preservation of some of. these the Naturalists' Trust work in eci-Operation with the National Trust ; and the partnership is very fruitful. Of all the sane- tnaries the one that most appeals to me is the one to which the Christmas card buyers made the' most direct contribution. They paid off the money for Alderfen. It is very private, has 11,0 waterway through it, and the birds are as little afraid of the slow punt that is almost the only way of access as the coarse fish which abound beneath the Surface. In such a pleasant, restful paradise you find wonderful associations of birds, for example the black-headed gull and the grasshopper warbler. 9f all the pictures of birds that remain more clearly in my mind, perhaps the most distinct is of a young, a very young, gull, trying to climb, from the water on to a lily leaf in the midst of Alclerfen. The chick succeeded after a number of Herculean efforts ;. and then walked the leaf, which did not sway under
weight, as proudly as a sea-captain on his bridge.
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