216 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



turfy downs without envying tliem their horses : at 

 last the old second horse-back nature that clings to 

 me drops off; the rider may gallop proudly past me to 

 vanish over the next hill, yet leave me content and 

 even glad to be on foot. 



These walks on the downs in the cooler season 

 are most exhilarating on the high, treeless, and in most 

 places imcultivated hills east of the Adur. But for 

 beautiful and varied scenery and abundance and 

 variety of wild life, the range west of the Adur is 

 most attractive in September and October, when the 

 foUage, especially the beech, takes its autumn colour, 

 and birds in thousands come down from the north to 

 spend the winter, or remain for a short time in this 

 district before crossing the sea. 



