The Nightingale—Sylvia luscinia,—is the most musical, most melancholy of birds, the poet’s bird,—par excellence. On Poynings Common, through May, they may be heard in the greatest perfection, where they tune their melodious nocturnal love song through the livelong night. They generally arrive about the second week in April.
The Dartford Warbler—Sylvia provincialis,—is said by most writers on British birds, to be extremely rare, but on the Downs, two or three miles to the north-east of Newhaven, they have been seen among the furze. They have a propensity for keeping near the ground in the high furze, and a great dislike to exhibit themselves. They are local, and tolerably abundant in their habitat.
There are five species of Wagtail that are visitors in the neighbourhood of Brighton. The White Wagtail—Motacilla alba,—so nearly resembles the common Pied Wagtail—Motacilla yarrellii,—that to a common observer there appears scarcely any difference. The Gray Wagtail—Motacilla boarula,—and the Grayheaded Wagtail—Motacilla flava,—are rare birds to this country; but both have been shot in this locality. The Yellow or Rays Wagtail—Motacilla campestris,—is common in the Spring of the year, and may be found by the edges of running streams. To the eastward of Brighton the whole family of the Wagtails are called Dishwashers.
Sky Larks—Alauda arvensis,—in October, come in large flights from the east. It is a favourite amusement with the Cockney sportsmen of Brighton, on a nice sunshiny morning, to go just outside the town, with what is called a lark glass, which is simply a piece of wood about a foot long, planed like the ridge of a house, having small pieces of looking glass let in the sides, and a wooden pin fitted in a socket or stump which is firmly driven in the ground, and is set spinning backwards and forwards by a string. By this means the poor birds are decoyed down; and they seem fascinated by the glitter of the glass, as they keep hovering within a few feet of it, and are not easily driven away; consequently they present easy marks for the shooter. A dozen or more will hover over the glass at one time, and a tolerable marksman will sometimes kill three or four dozen of a morning. The sport is generally over by half-past nine or ten o’clock. In the winter,—generally at the first fall of snow,—immense flights of larks come coasting along, driven apparently from the cold northern climes, towards the more genial west. The numbers that pass over Brighton are incredible, they sometimes extend to millions a-day, as from early light to dusk there is a continued stream, at least a quarter of a mile wide, passing along. On the road to Rottingdean is where the greatest flights may be observed. They are apparently continental visitors, coming across the German Ocean in a north-east direction. The flight seldom lasts more than two or three days.
The Ortolan Bunting—Emberiza hortulana,—has twice been obtained in and near Brighton; but it is a very rare bird in this country.
The Hoopoe—Upupa epops,—the most beautiful of all our British birds, is a frequent visitor in the Spring of the year to this part of the country. In May, 1845, Mr Swaysland, Naturalist, Queen’s Road, had to preserve and mount six Hoopoes, which were killed within a few miles of Brighton.
The Great Norfolk Plover, or Stone Curlew—Œdicnemus crepitans,—is becoming very scarce now, though formerly these birds were tolerably abundant. Their haunts were generally to be found among the large open stony fallows of our downs. They are like all the family of Charadriidæ, very shy birds.
The Golden Plover—Charadrius pluvialis,—the Ringed Dotterell—Charadrius morinellus,—the Grey Plover—Vanellus melanogaster,—the Turnstone—Strepsilas interpres,—the Sanderling—Calidris arenaria,—the Oystercatcher—Hæmatopus ostralegus,—are all, every year, to be met with in the little bays and inlets, on the beach between Brighton and Shoreham Harbour; as are also the Curlew—Numenius arquata,—the Whimbrel—Numenius phæopus,—the Red-hawk—Totanus calidris,—the Sandpiper—Totanus hypoleucos,—the Greenhawk—Totanus glottis,—the Blackheaded Godwit—Limosa melanura. The Ruff—Machetes pugnax,—is also found in the above locality, as well as several other species of the Waders. The Curlew Sandpiper—Tringa subarquata,—and the Little Stint—Tringa minuta,—have both been killed in the same place, though their visits are rare and far between.
The Gray Phalarope—Phalaropus platyrhynchus,—has occasionally been met with, generally in flocks of from ten to fifteen, and upwards. They are nearly or quite the smallest web-footed birds that are known; their homes are in the cold northern climes, and they are so unacquainted with man and his terrible engines of destruction, that they are apparently tame. Two gentlemen once fell in with a flock, in Shoreham Harbour, and killed seventeen, being nearly or quite all there were. They described them as miniature ducks swimming swiftly about on the still water, and did not attempt to escape; consequently they were all shot down.
In very severe winters, immense flocks of Wild Fowl fly near the shore, from east to west, and a great many specimens of the Goose and Duck tribe are obtained, some of them very rare to this county. The Egyptian Goose—Anser ægyptiacus,—was shot a few miles from Brighton, two years ago. So rare is this beautiful bird considered, that there is still a doubt amongst Ornithologists that the examples which have been met with, have only strayed from gentlemen’s parks, &c. They have generally been seen and shot in the severest winters, and are apparently a sort of “frozen-out gardeners.”