GEOGRAPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 85 



progress towards the east has been resumed as 

 before. 



I have observed that their proximity to the 

 coast during this transit from west to east seems 

 to depend in some degree upon the character and 

 extent of the country intervening between the 

 Downs and the sea. For instance, in the more 

 westerly portion of the alluvial district which may 

 be said to extend from Chichester to Brighton, 

 the flocks of pied wagtails are evidently less nu- 

 merous, appear to be more scattered, and to 

 occur at greater distances from the coast, than at 

 its eastern extremity. This, I think, may be ac- 

 counted for. In the neighbourhood of Chichester, 

 Pagham and Bognor, that flat, maritime tract 

 attains its greatest breadth ; tall hedges, well-shel- 

 tered meadows, and highly-cultivated fields lie 

 around, and offer many inducements to these pil- 

 grim bands to divide their forces, and even to 

 pause in the midst of their journey, while at the 

 same time their movements are here in some 

 measure concealed from ordinary observation. 

 But as they advance towards Brighton, where the 

 bleak, naked Downs approach the sea, and the 

 intervening plain becomes narrower, the fields 

 being more open and the fences low and trifling, 

 these migratory flocks seem to accumulate to 

 become, as it were, more concentrated as they 



