Now the most spacious and richest of our sanctuaries is
Hickling Broad, founded by Lord Grey and Mr. Montagu, and now controlled by Lord Desborough. Its manager, Mr. Jim Vincent, is a genius in his craft. I have seen there within a few hours nests of the bearded tit and the bittern with a quantity that is itself startling of birds generally held to be rare. You were almost afraid of treading on tufts in the drier part of the sanctuaries for fear of trampling the eggs of red- shank and plover. Those rare hawks, the Montagu and Marsh Harrier, appeared and disappeared. On occasion in autumn and less marvellously in spring the air is thick with migratory waders of any and every sort ; and in winter duck of most varieties gather to the open waters. Hickling is " a wonder and wild desire " ; but it is not complete sanctuary, for shooting is organized in the winter when the duck grow too numerous and interfere with the well-being of other birds. More important is the precariousness of its tenure. It may at any time cease to be sanctuary.
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