A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 220. Kentish Plover. Mgialith cantiana (Latham). The Kentish plover exists in small num- bers about the shingly beaches of the eastern coast of Sussex. Here in the neighbourhood of Rye Harbour and Winchelsea it breeds occasionally. It is a migratory species, arriv- ing in April and departing in September. 221. Golden Plover. Charadrim pluvialis, Linn. A regular winter visitor, sometimes in large flocks, to the open lands of Sussex. I have noticed golden plovers return year after year to the same ground in the Weald of Sussex. There they have their resting field and two regular feeding grounds, to which they adhere closely for two or three months unless re- peatedly disturbed. In hard weather they leave for the coast. 222. Grey Plover. Squatarola helvetica (Linn.) The grey plover, which is far more mari- time in its habits than the golden plover, regularly visits the coast of the county in spring and autumn. Some years they stay at Lancing and Pagham till the end of May, when the fine summer plumage has been completely assumed. There is a fine case of summer specimens killed in Sussex by the late Mr. Booth in the Dyke Road museum, Brighton, and I have a perfectly black- breasted male that was killed at Lancing in May, i88o, and another shot at Worthing about the same time. 223. Lapwing. Vanellm vulgaris, Bechstein. Abundant and resident. I think that the peewit is again increasing as a breeding species. 224. Turnstone. Strepsilas interpres (Linn.) Fairly common along the coast in spring and autumn. A few remain throughout the year. 225. Oyster-catcher. Hamatopm ostralegus, Linn. This inappropriately named bird, which never catches oysters, is locally common on the coast, especially about Shoreham and Rye, where I have recently seen large flocks. Locally this species is known by the curious name of ' olive.' 226. Avocet. Recurvirostra avocetta, Linn. Formerly breeding in the marshes of the county, the avocet is now only a very rare straggler in the spring. Markwick states that is was not uncommon in his days, and says that he had found a young one, just hatched, near Rye. 227. Black-winged Stilt. Himantopm candi- dus, Bonnaterre. A very rare visitor. There are two in- stances of its capture in Sussex, the first at Bosham by Mr. A. Cheeseman, December, 1855, and the second on a small pond near the junction of Midhurst and Bepton Com- mons, May 17, 1859 (-^'^"j 1859, p. 395). Mr. Clark Kennedy also records {Zoologist, 1880, p. 300) having seen a specimen near Eastbourne on May 6, 1880. 228. Grey Phalarope. Phalaropus fulicarius (Linn.) An irregular autumn visitor. In some years, such as 1869, this little bird visited the coast of Sussex in considerable numbers. They as well as the following species are always exceedingly tame, and on this occasion scores of grey phalaropes fell victims to sticks and stones. 229. Red-necked Phalarope. Phalaropus hyperboreus (Linn.) This species has occurred on several occa- sions, generally during the autumn migration, on the coast of the county ; it is however much rarer than the grey phalarope. In Scot- land it is now considered rare as a breeding species, but I know of one marsh, the shoot- ing of which I rented in 1 899-1 900, where at least thirty pairs had bred. The tameness of this little bird is quite remarkable ; near the Myvatn Lake in Iceland a female red- necked phalarope actually came and fed her young ones in some rough grass at my feet. I could certainly have touched her had I wished to do so. There are Sussex killed specimens in the possession of Mr. G. W. Bradshaw of Reading, Mr. Gilbert Knight of St. Leonards, and Mr. E. P. Overton of Hastings. 230. Woodcock. Scolopax rusticula, Linn. The woodcock is resident in Sussex, and we can now claim it as a species that breeds regularly with us in small but increasing num- bers. During the autumnal migration a fair number of birds visit us, especially in west Sussex about the wet ground of St. Leonards Forest. Here I have seen as many as seven woodcocks moved in a few minutes from an acre patch of birch and bracken. Of late seasons however woodcocks have not come in well during the winter months, and it is 292
