228 fHE Zoologist. 



The geographical position of Sussex, with its long frontage 

 to the English Channel, naturally makes it a much frequented 

 place of call for the hosts of birds which annually alight upon or 

 leave our shores, while the rare combination of tidal waters, wide 

 rolling downs, and beautiful woods, many of them relics of 

 ancient forests still possessing much of their wild and pristine 

 grandeur (as St. Leonard's Forest, and the forests of Ashdown, 

 Tilgate, and Worth), render it one of the most important 

 ornithological districts in England. 



In an Introduction of ten pages Mr. Borrer notices the chief 

 physical features of the county, and has to chronicle, alas ! many 

 changes inimical to bird-life, especially the intersection of Sussex 

 with railways (not only inland, but along the coast), the reclama- 

 tion of marsh land, and the breaking up of downland under 

 cultivation. Particularly does he deplore the disappearance of 

 Pagham Harbour, between Selsea and Bognor, once such a 

 paradise for the ornithologist, but now unfortunately reclaimed 

 and drained.* 



These alterations of the face of the country have worked 

 corresponding changes in its bird-life, and many species have now 

 to be chronicled as rare which formerly were not uncommon. 

 But Mr. Borrer's experience is long enough to enable him to 

 print many interesting observations made in byegone years, when 

 places like Pagham Harbour, Amberley Wildbrook, and Henfield 

 Common had charms for the sportsman as well as for the 

 naturalist, and when many a good day's shooting was rendered 

 memorable by the observation of some curious bird in haunts 

 still unspoiled by the agriculturist. 



If we have any fault to find with Mr. Borrer's volume, it is 

 that some of his chapters are too short, and do not include 

 enough of his own field -notes. He could, "an he would," have 

 told us much more, but perhaps feared to make his volume too 

 bulky. Occasionally records of rare species, or interesting 

 notices relating to Sussex birds, have escaped his memory, or his 

 research. We may instance a few : — The occurrence of the 



* In ' The Field ' of July 2nd and 16th, 1887, will be found two articles on 

 " Pagham Harbour, Past and Present," in which the writer, from personal 

 experience, contrasts its former appearance with its condition after the sea 

 had been banked out, and gives an account of the wildfowl and waders which 

 once resorted there in numbers. 



