88 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



Indeed, until quite lately their hoarse croak might be 

 heard, above the sound of the waves, as they tumbled 

 about after their manner in the air, or made their way 

 along the coast-line between Lulworth and Tilly Whim. 

 Everyone will remember Shakespeare's famous lines 

 in King Lear on the white chalk cliffs of Dover, where 



" Half-way down 

 Hangs one that gathers samphire " ; 



and where 



"The choughs that wing the midway air 

 Show scarce so gross as beetles." 



The red-legged chough, common enough in Shake- 

 speare's time, is now almost extinct in England. Up 

 till the middle of the last century it was fairly plentiful 

 on the Purbeck coast, where it used to breed at St Aid- 

 helm's Head. But, like the raven, it has fallen a victim 

 to persecution ; and the attractive sight of a company 

 of choughs sailing along Seacombe Cliffs will now be 

 sought in vain. But if the chough has disappeared, its 

 near relative, the jackdaw, has enormously increased, 

 and multitudes of these birds now frequent the Purbeck 

 coast. Indeed it is not unlikely that the presence of 

 the daw in such numbers has helped towards the exter- 

 mination of its rarer relation by taking possession of the 

 latter's nesting-places along the cliffs. Among the 

 hawks the kestrel maintains its position in Purbeck Isle. 

 It breeds in many places along the coast, and most 

 seasons there is a nest in the ruins of Corfe Castle. 

 Formerly the peregrine falcon was not uncommon, and 

 one or more of tjiese noble birds might always be seen 

 along the cliffs. Now, as in the Isle of Wight, it has 



