50 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



chance to the gun, but the Golden Plovers came 

 sweeping along in a more compact body, and, by 

 lying in wait for them behind the harbour wall, in a 

 direct line between their position in the marshes 

 and the highest mud-flats, I often managed to get 

 two barrels in very effectively as they crossed, 

 dropping perhaps seven or eight of them, and, on 

 one well-remembered occasion, "a baker's dozen." 

 They were generally in capital condition, and made 

 a welcome addition to the very limited " bill of fare " 

 which such an out-of-the-way place afforded. 



The little village of Siddlesham was, and still is, a 

 very primitive place indeed. A few small straggling 

 houses, fewer shops — including those of a butcher, 

 baker, and general grocer — a mill, and an inn 

 rejoicing in the sign of the "Crab and Lobster"; 

 not an inappropriate sign either ; for " lobster pots " 

 were in general use there, and supplied us with 

 many an excellent supper. A " Chichester lobster " 

 is proverbial as one of the four good things of 

 Sussex, another being a " Selsea cockle." Pagham 

 Harbour, lying as it were between Chichester 

 and Selsea, could boast both of lobsters and cockles 

 not inferior in flavour to those of greater celebrity 

 for size. 



At low water the fishermen might be seen walk- 

 ing across the soft mud of the harbour to look at 

 their lobster pots, and carrying baskets for cockles, 

 which they gathered as they went. I sometimes 

 accompanied them on their way, and was always 

 much struck at the skill with which they discovered 

 and unearthed a cockle from below the surface 



