THE BIRDS OF COOKHAM AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 11 
in Lord Boston’s and the Duchess of Sutherland’s woods, one in 
the tall elms skirting the Formosa estate, and one close to me on 
Odney Common. Often, when returning with Mr. Briggs from 
some ornithological expedition, we have heard quite late at 
night the Nightingales trilling sweetly, and answering each other, 
in the Cliefden Woods, when naught else broke the stillness of 
the evening, save the occasional hoot of the Tawny Owl 
AtFormosa two pairs of Nightingales bred for several successive 
years in the laurels skirting the carriage drive, but the nests 
being taken by one of the garden boys two or three years ago, 
the birds have not built there since. The specimen in Mrs. De 
Vitré’s collection was shot on the estate, but a very beautiful 
male in my own collection was sent to Mr. Briggs by Mr. Bye, 
then gardener to Mrs. Llewellyn, of Wooburn. The poor bird 
was picked up dead one morning, having flown against the glass 
window of the conservatory. He had been for several days on 
the grounds, delighting everyone with his song. 
Statistics of the number of Nightingales and other summer 
warblers caught annually near London, and brought to the bird- 
fanciers there, would be very interesting. I know of one man 
alone who had upwards of 200, all males, brought to him between 
the middle of April and the middle of May last year. 
Ruticilla. 
26. Ruticilla phoenicura. The Redstart. 
The Redstart is not common near Cookham, and I have myself 
never seen a specimen. There are, however, some nice ones in 
Mrs. De Vitré’s collection, and Mr. Briggs has shot several in the 
grounds at different times. Mr. Gould also obtained a female, 
caught off the nest in an old apple-tree on the estate. 
When at Peterborough I often met with this species, having 
taken many a nest out of the old Cathedral walls; nor shall I 
easily forget the tiny holes they built in, and the trouble they 
gave us to get the eggs; while the scene which ensued when one 
of my schoolfellows got his hand in the hole, but could not draw 
it out until rescued by a mason with his chisel, is etill fresh in my 
memory. 
