The largest attendance of visitors to the Dyke, is during the months of August and September, when, frequently, as many as a hundred carriages a-day arrive with parties, either to view the magnificent expanse of scenery which the spot commands, or on pic-nic excursions, as the establishment has accommodation for many sets of visitors at the same time. The predilection which the English have for displaying their wit in snatches of their poetic genius, has, on the walls of the rooms, the looking-glasses, and the panes of glass in the windows, extensive scope, and signatures innumerable crowd every available spot.
O! foul attempt to give a deathless lot
To names ignoble, born to be forgot,
In vain recorded.
The house being erected in so exposed and elevated a situation, one of the highest of the South-Down range, damage by gales and storms is very frequent. From the loneliness of its position, too, burglars have made various attempts to obtain spoil, but the reception they have always met with has rendered their expeditions a trouble rather than a profit. The spot was especially chosen by the late Duke of St. Albans for his hawking excursions, as it afforded an extensive range of sight to the numerous company of nobility and gentry, who attended upon such occasions to witness that old English pastime. The Brighton Harriers, at least once a week during the season, throw off here, and other packs make it their place of meeting.
But to return to the more immediate subject of this Chapter, the feathered tribe, from which there has been a slight digression, for the record of facts that form an important link in the chain of local history:
The Buzzard—Falco buteo,—is another of our indigenous birds, which has nearly disappeared from this district, and what was many years ago called the Common Buzzard is now very rare. They were formerly frequently met with among the furze near the edge of the cliffs, where they were constantly at war with the Jackdaws.
The Black Redstart—Sylvia tithys,—is considered rare in this country; but Brighton has been fortunate in affording several examples of this handsome and graceful bird, which is a winter visitor.
The Common Redstart—Sylvia phœnicurus,—unlike his confrere, is a summer visitor, generally arriving about the second week in April. Their migration seems to be gregarious, as they are to be met with in flocks of ten or a dozen, close by the sea shore, a little to the westward of Brighton, where they have apparently just arrived. In a day or two, they distribute themselves over the country, and are hardly ever seen again, but singly, or at most in pairs. This bird has several dark red feathers on the rump, and the country people call it the Fire Tail.
The Grasshopper Warbler—Sylvia locustella,—is a very shy bird, and consequently is very rarely seen. It is a great ventriloquist, and its note is exactly like the grasshopper, (hence its name), only very much louder, and so very peculiar, that a person may be within a yard or two of the bird, and yet be unable to define the exact spot. It is not a scarce bird, and several nests of it have been found at the Holm-bush, and almost any fine evening in June it may be heard there. Its haunts are at the edges of large woods, in low scrubby bushes.
The Sedge Warbler—Sylvia phragmitis,—may be found in the Summer months in the marshes that run up from Shoreham to Beeding. It is one of our night singing birds.
The Reed Wren or Reed Warbler—Sylvia arundinacea,—is found in precisely the same locality as the last, and where, during the Summer months, several of their extraordinary nests have been found. They generally prefer the ditches where the reeds grow the thickest. In making their nest, which is very deep, they bring three or four stout reeds together with their materials, near the water, and it is so beautifully and scientifically constructed, that in case of floods, the nest will rise up the stems. Any lover of Natural History, if he is not aware of the fact, or seen their nests, would be delighted with the beautiful provision which Nature here carries out.