INTRODUCTION. xiii 



Itcliiugfieldj passes through West Grinstead and Shipley to 

 the Henfield Level. There another branch is received, 

 rising from between the Chalk and Greensand under the 

 Devil's Dyke; the united streams then, passing Bramber, 

 fall into the sea at Shoreham. 



The Arun, the largest of our rivers, rises near the great 

 pond at Ifield, Avhence it flows through the mill-pond at 

 Warnham into the parish of Slinfold, and nearly to Lox- 

 wood, near which it joins a stream originating under Leith 

 Hill, in Surrey, and passing a little east of Wisborough 

 Green, receives a tributary from Shillinglee Park and 

 another from the Hawkins, Hammer, and Birchin ponds, 

 near Horsham. It then receives the Western Bother 

 (which rises in Black Down) about halfway between Stop- 

 ham and Pulborough, and flowing through the wide meadows, 

 formerly marshes, known as Amberley Wildbrook, and past 

 the town of Arundel, reaches the sea at Littlehampton. 



The Lavant, which, often dry for months, is remarkable 

 for being fullest of water in the hottest weather, rises from 

 under the Chalk in Charlton Forest, and flows by Chichester 

 into the estuary known as Chichester Harbour, near the 

 village of Wittering. 



These rivers are all of them subject to heavy floods, from 

 the narrowness of their mouths, and the enormous drainage 

 of the country, proving, of course, very attractive to many 

 species of birds. Pagham Harbour, which was formerly a 

 perfect paradise for the ornithologist, has now, unfortunately 

 for him, entirely disappeared, the sea having been a few 

 years since banked out, and the mud-lands reclaimed and 

 brought under cultivation. The estuary forming Chichester 

 Harbour extends from Fishbourne to the sea, and is some 

 seven miles in length ; soon after being joined by Bosham 

 Creek, it expands into a large sheet of water nearly three 

 miles in width, to the border of the county at Emsworth 



