A HISTORY OF SUSSEX month of the year, and but for the scarcity of suitable nesting sites no doubt more would stay and breed with us. Since time immemorial peregrines have bred on Beachy Head and in the Newhaven Cliff to the west, and there is little doubt that they have not yet abandoned their favourite seaside residence on the Sussex coast. In the winter the wandering pere- grine, generally an old bird, will often take up his abode by some lake such as exists at Burton Park, and here live on the wildfowl for the season. The peregrine is known in Sussex, as well as in America, as the duck- hawk. 145. Hobby. Falco suhbuteo, Linn. Formerly a regular summer visitor to the Weald and breeding there, but now only occurring at long intervals in the summer and autumn. 146. Merlin. Falco asalon, Tunstall. A regular winter visitor. Inland it preys principally on larks, and on the coast the dunlin is its favourite food. 147. Red-legged Falcon. Falco vespertinus Linn. One of these birds was shot by Mr. Howard Saunders at Rottingdean in 1851 (Dresser, Birds of Europe). Mr. Rowley has also recorded {Field, May 24, 1873) a second specimen taken near Brighton. An adult male was killed at Pett on June 3, 1901. 148. Kestrel. Falco tinnunculus, Linn. The forests in the north and west of Sussex are a great harbour for this interesting and practically harmless little falcon. There many nest in comparative security, so the species well holds its own and is by far the commonest bird of prey in spite of constant persecution. 149. Osprey. Pandion haliaetm (Linn.) Almost every spring and autumn ospreys, generally immature birds, visit Sussex. Borrer and Knox both cite numerous instances of its occurrence and capture. At one time the rising tide on the river Arun forced its way up from the sea to some distance above the ruins of Amberley Castle, and with it came in summer time the grey mullet, a favourite food of the osprey, and there are many in- stances in the writings of past authors of the appearance of the 'mullet-hawk,' as the osprey was called, with the spring running of the fish. Knox records an instance of the capture of an osprey by a shepherd boy, who observed it alight heavily on the cliffs of Rottingdean. The unfortunate bird was both unable to rise or to free itself from its in- tended victim, a large fish. 150. Common Cormorant. Phalacrocorax carbo (Linn.) Sparsely distributed along the coast line during the winter months. At the present time the species only breeds on Seaford Head. It is however fairly common in spring in the estuary north of Thorney Island. 151. Shag. Phalacrocorax graculus {L n.) Occasionally an immature shag has ap- peared of late years on the Sussex coast, but the species though formerly breeding on the Isle of Wight may now only be considered a rare winter visitor. 152. Gannet. Sula bassana {lj n.) A regular winter visitor to the English Channel, occurring in some numbers and generally keeping well out to sea. After severe gales specimens are sometimes found inland in a helpless condition. 153. Heron. Ardea cinerea, Linn. Sussex is well favoured in the preference shown to it by this splendid bird. There are several well established heronries in the county, notably at Windmill Hill Place near Hailsham and at Parham, where the number of birds is undoubtedly decreasing owing to the increase of the rooks. There is also a small heronry at Molecomb near Goodwood. At Parham all the nests are built in fir trees and mixed up with the rooks making it difficult to count them, but this year (1901) there were certainly thirty nests there. The heronry at Brede, where formerly there were about 200 nests, is now deserted. 154. Purple Heron. Ardea purpurea, Linn. Two examples of this rare heron have occurred in Sussex. The first mentioned by Knox was shot on September 28, 1848, at Worthing and ' is now in the museum of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.' Another was killed in October, 1851, at Catsfield and preserved by a Lewes bird- stuffer (Borrer). 155. Squacco Heron. Ardea ralloides, Scopoli. This heron occurs at rare intervals on migration. Borrer records two Sussex speci- mens, the first a completely adult bird which was killed at Wick Pond in the parish of Albourne in the summer of 1828. The second was shot at Warnham Pond near Horsham in the summer of 1849, and was first recorded by Mr. Knox as a little egret. Its possessor, Sir Percy Shelley, gave it to the 286
