SOME THREATENED BRITISH SPECIES 199 



accessible districts, whilst the Peregrine is credited 

 with the work of extermiuation in others. The 

 Chough is fairl}?- well established in our islands 

 at present ; but the tendency towards decrease is 

 certainly marked, and the species requires to be 

 carefully watched by the preserving naturalist. 



The Golden Oriole (Oriolus galhida), is the next 

 species concerning which we have a few warning 

 words to write. Ordinary readers are scarcely 

 aware how frequently this handsome and con- 

 spicuous bird visits the British Islands, or that 

 it has actually bred in them. So far as we can 

 see, there is nothing to prevent the Golden Oriole 

 becoming as common this side of the English 

 Channel (as it most probably was in remoter ages) 

 as it is on the other. The bird is said to be 

 a regular spring visitor to the Scilly Islands 

 and Cornwall, and thence onwards through the 

 southern counties as far as Norfolk, but with 

 perhaps lesser frequency. It must be remembered 

 that such very showy birds have difficulty in pene- 

 trating far after once landing on such inhospitable 

 shores as ours. Possibly this bird has bred in 

 Kent, Surrey, Essex, Northamptonshire, and 

 Norfolk. Mr. Harting records that a pair reared 

 a brood at Dumpton Park in the Isle of Thanet in 



