WILD LIFE 81 



mammals of this district, and much that I have to 

 say about them must be reserved for other chapters. 

 It may be said, without injustice, that Sussex has 

 distinguished itself above all counties, with perhaps 

 the exception of Norfolk, in the large number of 

 native species it has succeeded in extirpating during 

 the present century. From its forest and heath lands, 

 its marshes and shingled flats, its cliffs and downs, 

 the following species among others of less account 

 have disappeared : the raven, kite, common buzzard 

 and honey buzzard, hen harrier and Montagu's harrier : 

 of shore birds and terns, several species : bittern and 

 reed pheasant, bustard, stone curlew, blackcock, chough, 

 guillemot, razor-bill, kittiwake, and shag. Augustus 

 Hare, in his lately published work Sussex, speaks of 

 Beachy Head as a haunt of thousands of sea-fowl 

 puffins, seagulls, choughs, &c. Bless the man ! he 

 is many years behind the times. On all the fifteen 

 miles of precipitous chalk cliffs extending from Beachy 

 Head to Brighton the only birds to be seen now are 

 those commonest universal cliff-breeders, the herring- 

 gull and jackdaw, and a few kestrels. The one sur- 

 viving pair of peregrine falcons that haunt this coast 

 have in recent years been annually robbed of their 

 eggs or young. 



It is not possible, said to me a gentleman residing 

 on this south coast a year or two ago, for any man 

 to see a large rare bird and not "go for it." The 

 pleasure of shooting it is too great to be resisted, 



F 



