BANKS OF THE ADUR. 13 



the harbour is narrow, and difficult of access to 

 large vessels, except at full tide, yet the waters 

 within expand laterally to a great extent, so as to 

 form a tolerably commodious haven for steamers, 

 colliers and fishing-boats, which the vicinity of 

 Brighton to which this place serves as a port 

 attracts in considerable numbers; indeed, the tide 

 even penetrates so far as to flood many of those 

 flat grounds, which, lying lower than the sea, run 

 parallel with it for some miles between Shoreham 

 and Hove, and are separated from it only by a 

 high ridge of shingle. Various little pools of 

 water are thus formed, which at certain seasons 

 are haunted by many of the smaller species of 

 wading and swimming birds, and the river above 

 Shoreham, as far as Beeding levels, during the 

 spring and autumnal months, will generally repay 

 the patient observer, or the persevering gunner, 

 who explores its muddy banks, and whose ardour 

 is not to be chilled by an occasionally fruitless 

 expedition in search of a rara avis. 



