2 THE SEA SHORE 



Such attractions will allure the ordinary lover of Nature the 

 mere seeker after the picturesque but to the true naturalist there 

 are many others. The latter loves to read in the cliffs their past 

 history, to observe to what extent the general scenery of the coast 

 is due to the nature of the rocks, and to learn the action of the 

 waves from the character of the cliffs and beach, and from the 

 changes which are known to have taken place in the contour of 

 the land in past years. He also delights to study those plants and 

 flowers which are peculiar to the coast, and to observe how the 

 influences of the sea have produced interesting modifications in 

 certain of our flowering plants, as may be seen by comparing them 

 with the same species from inland districts. The sea birds, too, 

 differing so much as they do from our other feathered friends in 

 structure and habit, provide a new field for study ; while the 

 remarkably varied character of the forms of life met with on the 

 beach and in the shallow waters fringing the land is in itself 

 sufficient to supply the most active naturalist with material for 

 prolonged and constant work. 



Let us first observe some of the general features of the coast 

 itself, and see how far we can account for the great diversity of 

 character presented to us, and for the continual changes and 

 incessant motions that add such a charm to the sea-side ramble. 



Here we stand on the top of a cliff composed of a soft calcareous 

 rock on the exposed edge of a bed of chalk that extends far 

 inland. All the country round is gently undulating, and devoid of 

 any of the features that make up a wild and romantic scene. The 

 coast-line, too, is wrought into a series of gentle bays, separated by 

 inconspicuous promontories where the rock, being slightly harder, 

 has better withstood the eroding action of the sea ; or where a cur- 

 rent, washing the neighbouring shore, has been by some force 

 deflected seaward. The cliff, though not high, rises almost per- 

 pendicularly from the beach, and presents to the sea a face which 

 is but little broken, and which in itself shows no strong evidence of 

 the action of raging, tempestuous seas ; its chief diversity being its 

 gradual rise and fall with each successive undulation of the land. 

 The same soft and gentle nature characterises the beach below. 

 Beyond a few small blocks of freshly-loosened chalk, with here and 

 there a liberated nodule of flint, we find nothing but a continuous, 

 fine, siliceous sand, the surface of which is but seldom broken by 

 the protrusion of masses from below. Such cliffs and beaches do 

 not in themselves suggest any violent action on the part of the sea, 



