A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



month of the year, and but for the scarcity 

 of suitable nesting sites no doubt more would 

 stay and breed with us. Since time immemorial 

 peregrines have bred on Beachy Head and in 

 the Newhaven Cliff to the west, and there is 

 little doubt that they have not yet abandoned 

 their favourite seaside residence on the Sussex 

 coast. In the winter the wandering pere- 

 grine, generally an old bird, will often take 

 up his abode by some lake such as exists at 

 Burton Park, and here live on the wildfowl 

 for the season. The peregrine is known in 

 Sussex, as well as in America, as the duck- 

 hawk. 



145. Hobby. Falco suhbuteo, Linn. 

 Formerly a regular summer visitor to the 



Weald and breeding there, but now only 

 occurring at long intervals in the summer and 

 autumn. 



146. Merlin. Falco asalon, Tunstall. 



A regular winter visitor. Inland it preys 

 principally on larks, and on the coast the 

 dunlin is its favourite food. 



147. Red-legged Falcon. Falco vespertinus 



Linn. 

 One of these birds was shot by Mr. 

 Howard Saunders at Rottingdean in 1851 

 (Dresser, Birds of Europe). Mr. Rowley has 

 also recorded {Field, May 24, 1873) a second 

 specimen taken near Brighton. An adult 

 male was killed at Pett on June 3, 1901. 



148. Kestrel. Falco tinnunculus, Linn. 



The forests in the north and west of Sussex 

 are a great harbour for this interesting and 

 practically harmless little falcon. There many 

 nest in comparative security, so the species 

 well holds its own and is by far the commonest 

 bird of prey in spite of constant persecution. 



149. Osprey. Pandion haliaetm (Linn.) 

 Almost every spring and autumn ospreys, 



generally immature birds, visit Sussex. Borrer 

 and Knox both cite numerous instances of its 

 occurrence and capture. At one time the 

 rising tide on the river Arun forced its way 

 up from the sea to some distance above the 

 ruins of Amberley Castle, and with it came 

 in summer time the grey mullet, a favourite 

 food of the osprey, and there are many in- 

 stances in the writings of past authors of the 

 appearance of the 'mullet-hawk,' as the 

 osprey was called, with the spring running of 

 the fish. Knox records an instance of the 

 capture of an osprey by a shepherd boy, who 

 observed it alight heavily on the cliffs of 

 Rottingdean. The unfortunate bird was both 



unable to rise or to free itself from its in- 

 tended victim, a large fish. 



150. Common Cormorant. Phalacrocorax 



carbo (Linn.) 

 Sparsely distributed along the coast line 

 during the winter months. At the present 

 time the species only breeds on Seaford Head. 

 It is however fairly common in spring in the 

 estuary north of Thorney Island. 



151. Shag. Phalacrocorax graculus {L\nn.) 

 Occasionally an immature shag has ap- 

 peared of late years on the Sussex coast, but 

 the species though formerly breeding on the 

 Isle of Wight may now only be considered 

 a rare winter visitor. 



152. Gannet. Sula bassana {lj\nn.) 



A regular winter visitor to the English 

 Channel, occurring in some numbers and 

 generally keeping well out to sea. After 

 severe gales specimens are sometimes found 

 inland in a helpless condition. 



153. Heron. Ardea cinerea, Linn. 



Sussex is well favoured in the preference 

 shown to it by this splendid bird. There 

 are several well established heronries in the 

 county, notably at Windmill Hill Place near 

 Hailsham and at Parham, where the number 

 of birds is undoubtedly decreasing owing to 

 the increase of the rooks. There is also a 

 small heronry at Molecomb near Goodwood. 

 At Parham all the nests are built in fir trees 

 and mixed up with the rooks making it 

 difficult to count them, but this year (1901) 

 there were certainly thirty nests there. The 

 heronry at Brede, where formerly there were 

 about 200 nests, is now deserted. 



154. Purple Heron. Ardea purpurea, Linn. 

 Two examples of this rare heron have 



occurred in Sussex. The first mentioned by 

 Knox was shot on September 28, 1848, 

 at Worthing and ' is now in the museum 

 of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.' 

 Another was killed in October, 1851, at 

 Catsfield and preserved by a Lewes bird- 

 stuffer (Borrer). 



155. Squacco Heron. Ardea ralloides, Scopoli. 

 This heron occurs at rare intervals on 



migration. Borrer records two Sussex speci- 

 mens, the first a completely adult bird which 

 was killed at Wick Pond in the parish of 

 Albourne in the summer of 1828. The 

 second was shot at Warnham Pond near 

 Horsham in the summer of 1849, and was 

 first recorded by Mr. Knox as a little egret. 

 Its possessor, Sir Percy Shelley, gave it to the 



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