27 JUNE 1931, Page 14

This Norfolk Trust is to "haunt of coot and hem"

what the National Trust is to the relics of great architecture ; though the National Trust possesses some famous sanctuaries as well ; Scolt Head, for example, and Blakeney, both as it happens in Norfolk. For the county is supreme as a refuge for a great many rare birds : for grebe and bittern, for harrier and bearded tit, for immense quantity of duck and waders. We may yet see there both the osprey and the ruff as regularly established visitors. The county has a great reputation as a pioneer in agriculture, well-deserved at any rate in the eigh- teenth century, when Coke of Norfolk and " Turnip " Town- shend made a new thing both of English sheep-farming and of arable husbandry. ,. It deserves to be called pioneer in this regard ; but its naturalists are perhaps more truly famous for original organization than its farmers. And they lead the way by a larger margin to-day than ever before, and they deserve support, both in general appreciation and in more concrete ways. * * * *