PREFACE. Vll 



With regard to himself he may perhaps be 

 allowed to say, that an ardent love of Nature has 

 throughout life been his ruling passion, and the 

 study of her works his greatest delight ; while a 

 residence of many years on the coast, as well 

 as in the interior, of Sussex, has afforded him 

 advantages which do not fall to the lot of every 

 local observer. 



The illustrations are taken from drawings made 

 on the spot by the author. The " Heron alight- 

 ing on its Nest," as depicted in the Frontispiece, 

 was sketched by him while concealed among the 

 upper branches of an adjoining tree, under the 

 circumstances narrated at page 27, and is a faith- 

 ful representation of the attitude of the bird at 

 that moment. 



Although from the desultory nature of these 

 papers he has sometimes thrown off the restraint 

 which a rigid adherence to systematic order might 

 have imposed upon him, yet with the view of 

 imparting to the work a more scientific character 



