J. E. LITTLEBOT — THE BIEDS OF OUE DISTRICT. 25 



our field birds, but I shall only allude to one of its characteristics. 

 Just as so many of us grow greyer as we grow older, so does the 

 yellow-hammer become of a much more brilliant yellow about the 

 head as he advances in age, and this fact will account for the great 

 difference in colour observable in diifei'ent birds. The sparrow and 

 the chaffinch are probably the most numerous of any among our 

 British birds. Notwithstanding their immense abundance, the 

 sparrow can rarely be found but in close proximity to the haunts 

 of man. He appears to desert the hill-side, the common, or the 

 forest, and to haunt, in flocks almost numberless, the farm home- 

 stead and the country village. But he does not, by any means, 

 confine himself to country life ; in every street of every town 

 throughout the land, and in the dirtiest and most wretched of 

 any of the slums of London — there, in profuse abundance, is the 

 sparrow. The nest of the chaffinch is an extremely pretty structure. 

 When built in a tree, it is generally covered with lichens ; but it is 

 a little remarkable that whenever a hedge is selected, where lichen 

 would render it conspicuous, it is carefully avoided. The chaffinch 

 has surely attained considerable proficiency in the art of conceal- 

 ment. The brambling occasionally visits our district in small 

 flocks. During last winter a hawfinch remained for several days 

 in our garden at Hunton Bridge. The greenfinch is very abundant, 

 and the beautiful goldfinch, although greatly reduced in numbers, 

 is still tolerably plentiful. I cannot pass by the name of the 

 goldfinch without entering my protest against the systematic 

 manner in which these birds are victimised by the birdcatchers. 

 I am afraid that the "Small Birds Preservation Act" is, for the 

 most part, a dead letter. A gentleman informs me that he met a 

 birdcatcher on Chipperfield Common who had succeeded in captur- 

 ing six dozen young linnets in one day, and another of the same 

 fraternity was seen to leave Watford station with twenty-seven 

 young nightingales. The siskin and redpole are gregarious, and 

 during the winter they assail our alder trees in large numbers. I 

 have already alluded to the linnet. It is wonderfully abundant in 

 the neighbourhood of Chipperfield. One day last February more 

 than a hundred were observed, singing most vigorously, on a 

 single tree ; by and by they took a long flight over the Common, 

 but again returned to the same tree, and again commenced singing. 

 Last among the finches, the gaudy bullfinch must not be forgotten. 

 He is a peculiarly handsome bird, but is frightfully destructive 

 among the early buds of the gooseberry, the currant, and even the 

 plum. His nest is one of the slightest that we have ever seen, 

 being frequently composed of but a few dry twigs laid loosely 

 together. It appears extraordinary that the eggs should be retained 

 by it, and especially that the restless young should allow them- 

 selves to be confijied within its limits. 



The starling, the Eoyston crow, the jackdaw, the magpie, and 

 the jay will all be found upon my list, but I am afraid I have been 

 already tedious, and passing them without further notice, I will 

 come at once to the kingfisher. I am glad to be able to announce 



