THE SEA SHOEE 



represents a typical shore for a chalky district, yet we may find 

 others of a very different nature even where the same rock exists. 

 Thus, at Flamborough in Yorkshire, and St. Alban's Head in 

 Dorset, we find the hardened, exposed edge of the chalk formation 

 terminating in bold and majestic promontories, while the inner 

 edge surrounding the Weald gives rise to the famous cliffs of 

 Dover and the dizzy heights of Beachy Head. The hard chalk of 

 the Isle of Wight, too, which has so well withstood the repeated 

 attacks of the Atlantic waves, presents a bold barrier to the sea on 



FIG. 2. WHiTECLnr (CHALK), DORSET 



the south and east coasts, and terminates in the west with the 

 majestic stacks of the Needles. 



Where this harder chalk exists the coast is rugged and irregular. 

 Sea birds find a home in the sheltered ledges and in the protected 

 nooks of its serrated edge ; and the countless wave-resisting blocks 

 of weathered chalk that have been hurled from the heights above, 

 together with the many remnants of former cliffs that have at last 

 succumbed to the attacks of the boisterous sea, all form abundant 

 shelter for a variety of marine plants and animals. 



