CIRL BUNTINGS IN SUSSEX 51 



prove this point conclusively, you have but to put 

 in some steady work during summer in the vicinity 

 of a series of villages, all adjoining, in the right 

 line of country. In some, Girls are tolerably 

 abundant (I have occasionally met with a dozen 

 pairs in one day) ; in others, they are conspicuous 

 merely by their absence, or are, at any rate, 

 remarkable scarce. It is unnecessary to specify 

 every place in Sussex where the species occurs, but 

 I may just add that I have encountered the bird in 

 a number of spots, amongst which the following 

 centres may be notified : Hastings, Eastbourne, 

 Lewes, Brighton, Steyning, Worthing, and 

 Chichester. It is certainly commoner from Lewes 

 and Brighton on west than it is in the east of 

 the county. 



In the right district the Girl Bunting is a fre- 

 quenter of country roads and lanes, as well as, 

 though in a very minor degree, of certain lower 

 slopes of the Downs which luxuriate in a good mixed 

 growth of gorse, brambles, and thorns, and which 

 are bounded by a rough road or well-used track ; 

 or, again, those portions near the valleys which 

 are under cultivation and which boast " shaws," 

 or irregularly planted trees. Trees, indeed, are 

 practically indispensable to the species. It loves 

 civilization far more than its cousin, the familiar 

 Yellowhammer ; really wild country it sedulously 

 shuns. So fond, apparently, is the bird of man's 

 vicinity, that in any " Girl region " there is almost 



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