58 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



whose practised eye detects the presence of an 

 unusual visitor amongst the flocks of common 

 species which he is daily accustomed to see. 

 Whether the rarities thus procured are always 

 brought to the notice of naturalists is more than 

 doubtful. Some of them occasionally get recorded 

 by the shooters, or, coming to the hands of local 

 collectors, eventually become immortalised in a 

 county list. This was the case with the birds in 

 Mr Knox's collection (now at Goodwood), many of 

 which- were procured at Pagham Harbour and in 

 the neighbourhood, and may be found noticed in 

 the " Systematic Catalogue of the Birds of 

 Sussex," appended to that author's Ornithological 

 Rambles. 



Amongst the rarer birds of prey met with at 

 Pagham Harbour, and occasionally shot there, may 

 be mentioned the Osprey, Kite, and Montagu's 

 Harrier. The last named (of which the writer has 

 seen several) frequented the marshes on either side 

 of the harbour, and were always observed in 

 autumn, when the individuals met with were almost 

 invariably birds of the year. Amongst the smaller 

 passerine birds, the Waxwing and Red-winged 

 Starling have been procured in this district ; the 

 Bearded Tit not far off, at FIshbourne, while the 

 Rock Pipit was found breeding near Aldwick and 

 Pagham, and the Cirl Bunting near Bognor. 

 Amongfst the uncommon birds which have been 

 observed and procured at Pagham Harbour may 

 be noticed the Dotterel (^Eudromias morincllus), 

 locally known as the " Land Dotterel " to distinguish 



