Their sufferings at the hands of keepers and schoolboys read like a page of Foxe.

The final disaster was the spoliation of their nest by a boy, who removed all four of the children, or "squabs" as he called them.

Mr.Knox, who used to come every day to examine them through his glass, was in despair, until after much meditation he thought of an expedient.

Seeking out the boy he persuaded him to give up the one "squab" whose wings had not yet been clipped, and this the ornithologist carried to the clump and deposited in the ruined nest.

The next morning the old birds were to be seen, just as of old, and that was their last molestation.
Just under the park on the road to Midhurst is Tillington, a little village with a rather ornamental church, which dates from 1807.