A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 198. Rock -Dove. Columba Hvia, J. F. Gmelin. Evidently a very rare bird in its purely wild state. Our cliffs being unsuited to its habits it is not known to have bred within the county. 199. Turtle-Dove. Turtur communis, Selby. A very common and increasing species. I doubt if there is any place in England where this beautiful little dove is so common as in the neighbourhood of Horsham. In the summer of 1899, a friend from Scotland being anxious to take a nest of this species, we entered a small cover at Warnham for this purpose, and in an hour had discovered seven- teen nests. The same year I counted over one hundred together in a small patch of buck- wheat. 200. Pallas's Sand-Grouse. Syrrhaptes para- doxus (Pallas). This straggler from the Eastern steppes was first observed and obtained in Sussex during the invasion of these birds to England in 1863. In the second great arrival of these birds in England and Scotland in 1888 they were seen in the county as elsewhere in con- siderable flocks, and many specimens were shot along the coast. Some few even stayed through the winter and were captured in 1889. The bird during this immigration is recorded only to have nested in Scotland. 201. Black Grouse. Tetrao tetrix, Linn. Although stragglers still appear at intervals, blackgame as a resident and breeding species may be said to have become extinct about 1845. Mr. Padwick of Horsham says that about the year 1 840 his father shot as many as six brace in a morning at Combe Bottom, St. Leonards Forest. Though still seen and killed annually about Leith Hill, Crowborough and Hindhead near the Sussex border until the year 1870, blackgame have since become practically extinct, and I cannot ascertain that any person has actually seen them since 1890. Two attempts to reintroduce this fine bird have met with no success. It is generally the case that when indigenous and breeding species are stamped out, new importations, unless tried on a most extensive scale, are failures. 202. Pheasant. Phasianus cokhlcus, Linn. Borrer, quoting from the Sussex Archaologi- cal Collections, tells us that the pheasant was known in Sussex as early as 1245, for 'the custos of the bishopric of Chichester was ordered to send to the king for his use at Easter amongst other game twenty-four phea- sants.' More covers are every year devoted to pheasants, and certainly the sport of shoot- ing them is not diminishing in favour. Sussex is a ' pheasant ' county, though not so good as either Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire or Nor- folk. 203. Partridge. Perdix cinerea, Latham. Although partridges are well and generally distributed throughout the county Sussex can- not properly be called a ' partridge county.' Bags of fifty brace in a day are rare and only made in an exceptionally good year. 204. Red-legged Partridge. Caccabis rufa (Linn.) Knox mentions that two coveys of these birds were hatched and reared under domestic hens and turned down at Kirdford near Pet- worth in July, 1 84 1. Since that date they have rapidly spread over the whole of the Weald and certainly in west Sussex are an increasing species. Formerly an open ground loving species and by nature a dweller in the fields and rough pastures, the red-legged par- tridge will now readily take to and live almost entirely in the woods when his safety de- pends on it. 205. Quail. Coturnix communis, Bonnaterre. A scarce spring visitor, breeding occasionally on the South Downs and more rarely in the Weald. 206. Landrail. Crex pratensis, Bechstein. A regular summer visitor, breeding with us and leaving in September. Occasionally a straggler remains throughout the winter. 207. Spotted Crake. Porzana maruetta (Leach). A scarce summer visitor, its habits resem- bling the last named species but showing an especial taste for the edge of marshes. It has also occurred in the winter. Little Crake. Porxana parva (Scopoli)_ J. E. Harting has made known the 208. Mr first instance of the occurrence of this rare crake in Sussex. He found on reference to an unpublished manuscript by Markwick, now in the library of the Linnasan Society, that the coloured figure and description therein attri- buted to the spotted gallinule was in fact a bird of this species. There are two good specimens in the Borrer collection taken re- spectively at Beeding chalk-pit near Shoreham, October, 1855, and at Eastbourne in April, 1869. Five other examples taken within the county are mentioned by Mr. Borrer.
