THROUGH THE YEAR 87 



faces it fearless, and somehow he soon reaches the 

 spot he aims at. He lays back his wings and dives 

 down into the wind in the shape of a V. This is the 

 characteristic figure the jackdaw of the sea cliff 

 presents in the air. 



THE GLEAM 



There is a feature of sunsets seen from the 

 cliff, where the sea gulls float and swing, 

 that is finer, I think, when the sky is cloudy : I 

 rarely notice it on the great summer evenings of 

 glow and vast expanse of rich colour. The feature 

 is the long spike or the ruled line of gleaming white 

 or of gleaming gold on the water when the sun is 

 piercing through rents and thin spots in the clouds 

 just before setting. To some eyes these spikes, at 

 this time indeed, at any time of year are the finest 

 effects of sunset by the English coasts. I have 

 noticed them more among the bays and harbours and 

 estuaries of the south coast than where the sea beats 

 up at a straight cliff line. To one looking west from 

 Durley chine to the Haven at Poole Harbour, and 

 towards Studland and the Old Harry rocks, these 

 effects during cloudy sunsets are often very fine. 



A silver gleam lies at the harbour bar beyond 

 the haven, and, as the sun gets over the Purbeck 

 downs, the long spikes of intense white or intense 

 flaming gold shine on the distant water. 



Such sea coast sunsets of gleam and shine in lines 

 or spikes on the water are not often full of colour. 

 The sea on which these lines alight is no splendid 



