1888-89.] A Few Notes o?t Bird Life, &c. 269 



have of late so much increased in numbers that the trees on 

 the island are insufficient for them, and nests are now built in 

 trees on the mainland. You may often see as many as thirty 

 or forty of these handsome birds together there. Combe Pool 

 is the only large expanse of water situated just in the middle 

 of England. Warwickshire is often designated the heart, and 

 Corley Hill in it the backbone, of England ; and though this 

 hill is only some 550 feet above sea-level, it is a singular 

 fact that two small streams, not a mile apart, have their ori- 

 gin there, one of which, taking a north-easterly course, finds 

 its way into the Humber ; while the other, running in a south- 

 westerly direction, flows into Shakespeare's Avon, and on to 

 the Bristol Channel. The whole district forms part of the 

 ancient and extensive forest of Arden, and many large old 

 pollard oaks are yet standing — 



" Whose boughs are mossed with age, 

 And high tops bald with dry antiquity," — 



which are believed to have formed part of this forest. The 

 name is still retained in the two villages of Hampton-in-Arden 

 and Henley-in- Arden — places some twenty miles apart. No 

 doubt Shakespeare was well acquainted with the latter. The 

 " woodmen of Arden " still exist in the form of a well-known 

 county toxophilite society, who hold their annual ward-mote in 

 Packington Park, near Meriden. In the summer of 1887 the 

 High Sheriff of the county conceived the happy idea of hav- 

 ing the play of " As You Like It " performed on the actual 

 site of the forest, at his residence near Stratford. A first-rate 

 company was engaged, and most of the county families were 

 invited. The audience attended in gay summer dresses ; the 

 stage was a spacious lawn ; the performers emerged as required 

 from glades among the shrubs and trees ; and the tout en- 

 semble was, I believe, most enchanting, and extremely pictur- 

 esque. 



Combe Pool being so central, forms a temporary resting- 

 place to many sea-birds crossing England, gulls occasionally 

 visiting it. I have often regretted I did not obtain from the 

 late head-keeper, who lived there all his life, some account of 

 the rare birds at various times shot or seen by him ; but I 

 well remember his account of an osprey, which, as a stuffed 



