F. W. PROCTOR : REDPOLL IN BERKSHIRE. 313 



me with notes that a nest of three incubated eggs was 

 found at Tinchampstead on June 10th, 1887 (c/. Victoria 

 History of Berkshire), and that a nest was taken at 

 Wellington College on May 20th, 1898. I regret that at 

 present I have no notes on its distribution in the portions 

 of the county bordering on Hampshire and Wiltshire, 

 but this year I hope to find it breeding there also. 



The birds by no means confine themselves to the river 

 banks, but breed away from them in thorns, furze bushes, 

 and, I have reason to believe, sometimes in clumps of firs 

 and in fruit trees in nursery gardens ; but it is only in 

 the rod beds that I have found them breeding in small 

 colonies, several nests being built in quite a small area. 

 A common situation for the nest is in a fork of a willow 

 rod, near the top, ten or fifteen feet from the ground, 

 where the nest sways with every gust of wind like that of 

 a Reed- Warbler. 



Mr. Noble informs me of the interesting fact that, on 

 the 13tli of June last, he found in one of these rod beds 

 a Redpoll's nest containing a Cuckoo's egg. The spot 

 where the nest was found is very carefully protected and 

 kept absolutely quiet in the nesting season, and is a haven 

 for all birds. As the Cuckoo commonly deposits its egg- 

 in a Reed- Warbler's nest, it is quite possible that this 

 particular bird mistook the Redpoll's nest for one. 



I can confidently assert that the Lesser Redpoll has 

 increased in this county in late years to a very great 

 extent as a breeding species, for in former times it was 

 undoubtedly uncommon or little known, and I can find 

 no records of its having bred previous to those I have 

 mentioned by writers on local birds. 



