SEA-FOWL AND SAMPHIRE 3 



cormorants flying in to roost, and mark the ravens and 

 the peregrine falcon that still haunt the crag, to their 

 resting-places among the seams and wrinkles of its face. 

 The lofty precipices of Culver Cliffs, in the south- 

 east corner of the Isle of Wight, are still the breeding- 

 place of the last two birds, and the first visit made by 

 the writer to the spot had for its object to ascertain 

 whether either, or both, had recently nested there. As 

 long ago as the days of Queen Elizabeth, the falcons 

 from these cliffs were famous, and they are said to have 

 nested in the same eyries till the present day. The 

 fishermen off the Foreland had just loaded up their 

 boats with the lobster- and prawn-pots, five dozen in a 

 boat, to shoot at the turn of the tide, and it was not 

 without difficulty that a black-eyed, brown-legged 

 fisher-lad was obtained to aid in managing the boat 

 among the currents and rocks which the falling tide 

 would soon disclose. Like most " longshore " fisher- 

 men, who look on the sea-fowl and rabbits in the cliffs 

 as part of their yearly harvest equally with the produce 

 of the sea, he was well acquainted with the habits of 

 the birds, and soon confirmed the existence of the 

 ravens. A coastguardsman had caught a young one 

 newly flown from the nest a few weeks before, which 

 ate so much that he had resolved to sell it cheap when 

 he returned from his cruise with the mobilized fleet. 

 After we had rowed quickly across the bay which 

 separates the low land from the long line of Culver 

 Cliffs, the first face of the precipice opened out, a 

 square-topped buttress of chalk, incurved and over- 



