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THE BIRDS OF COOKHAM AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 127 
Grace from Wooburn, a village about two miles to the north- 
east of Cookham. At Bulling Bare Mr. Briggs tells me it was by 
no Means uncommon, and he was once witness to a remarkable 
specimen of this falcon’s audacity. He was standing near a 
thick bush at the above estate, when a chaffinch, closely pursued 
by a male Merlin darted into the thicket like a flash of lightning. 
Nothing daunted by his presence the Hawk dashed in, and 
dragging the unfortunate chaffinch out, was carrying him off, 
when Mr, Briggs put an end to his career by a well aimed shot 
In this instance the chaffinch was quite dead (perhaps killed by 
the shot) but he tells me that in many instances when he has 
seen these hawks flying with a bird in their talons, he has fired 
at them, though far out of shot, in order to make them drop their 
prey, and several times he has seen the birds fly away unhurt 
when released by the hawk. I have recently purchased four 
Merlin’s eggs taken near Ongar Wood on the 2nd of July. 
They were found on the ground, and were much incubated, and 
I hear from Mr. Davy, of the Highgate-road, that about ten years 
ago he also received a nest of young Merlins from the same 
neighbourhood. 
Tinnunculus. 
7. Tinnunculus alaudarius. The Kestrel. 
The Kestrel is a very common bird at Cookham, and breeds in 
large numbers in Cliefden Woods, sailing over which I have 
sometimes seen six at once. Some time ago, this species bred for 
two successive years in some tall fir trees at Formosa, where the 
nest was discovered by Mr. Briggs, and the bird is often seen in 
the neighbourhood of the tall elm trees on the estate. Last year 
it was especially common, and I saw several specimens in Mr. 
Burrow’s grounds at ‘‘The Elms.” As regards its food a curious 
instance came under my notice the other day, when a friend of 
Mr. Briggs sent him a male Kestrel ‘‘just as he shot it.” It was 
grasping a slow-worm in its claws, and so tightly, that when it 
arrived at Cookham from Reading its feet then held its victim, 
_ which was still living. The food of this bird I believe to consist 
chiefly of small birds ; and although it may be in pursuit of mice, 
