240 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



delightful to listen to. Heard at a distance of sixty 

 or seventy yards, it is like the rushing sound the 

 wind makes in beechen woods in summer ; but when 

 the listener goes nearer he ilnds that this confused 

 noise is composed of innumerable fine melodious notes, 

 a mass and an indescribable tangle of sound, resembling 

 the evening concert of an immense host of starlings, 

 gathered at their roosting-place, but more musical. 



These large flocks are probably made up of birds 

 from hundreds of furze-grown commons, moors, and 

 mountain sides aU over the kingdom, and will by-and- 

 by take their departure to countries beyond the sea. 

 When cold blasts have driven these and all other 

 loiterers from the exposed hills, the maritime district 

 is then the chief haunt and winter home of birds. 

 Probably this district has the most numerous and 

 varied feathered population to be found anywhere in 

 England during the winter months. 



The strip of low country extending along the coast 

 from the mouth of the river Adur to the border of 

 Hampshire has a strongly-marked character of its own. 

 The extreme fertihty of the soil, and the mildness of the 

 climate, due to the shelter of the downs on the north 

 side, and to the nearness of the sea, which is never 

 cold, has made Worthing what it is — the chief vine- 

 yard and garden of rare fruits in England. This is 

 the character of the maritime district, although where 

 the range of hills retires furthest from the sea, the 

 flat country is less sheltered from the north and east 



