SMALL BIRDS AND SPARROW-HAWKS. 61 



indeed were prominent qualities in the character 

 of their possessor. 



Thus attended, and with a gun in each hand, 

 like Robinson Crusoe, I hastened along the shore 

 to Pagham. On my way I met with a singular 

 evidence of the extreme intensity of the cold. 

 Several fish of different kinds lay scattered at 

 intervals on the beach, some dead, others dying, 

 but all in a perfectly fresh state, having been 

 frozen in their rocky lairs at the bottom of the 

 sea, and cast up by the waves. Some of these were 

 of a species entirely new to me, and which I have 

 never since met with. Their colours were in- 

 describably beautiful. Every hue of the rainbow 

 seemed to have been transferred to their scales.* 

 My astonishment could hardly have been sur- 

 passed by that of the poor fisherman in the ( Ara- 

 bian Nights,' when he drew forth the variegated 

 fish from the enchanted lake. I could not help 

 regarding this discovery as a lucky omen for 

 myself, so having selected half-a-dozen of the 

 brightest, I concealed them under a heap of peb- 

 bles, and continued on my way to the harbour. 



Innumerable flights of small birds were col- 



* Mr. Yarrell, to whom I related the circumstance, conjec- 

 tures that these fish belonged to the Wrasse family (labridce), 

 some of the rarer species of which are remarkable for their 

 beautiful iridescent colours. 



