34 THE BIRDS OF BERKS AND BUCKS. 



presented by Mr, Ferryman, of Datchet, who told 

 me of a fourth, which had a purely white head and 

 several wing feathers of the same colour : this last 

 was killed near Datchet a few years ago, but I was 

 unable to ascertain the date. An Eton taxidermist, 

 named Drye, has informed me that he has had 

 several yellow, or straw-coloured sparrows brought to 

 him to stuff, which have been taken near Eton and 

 Windsor. His son, Henry Drye, shot a pied House 

 Sparrow in a little garden at Eton, bordering on the 

 Thames, in i860. 



On the 2 1st of November, 1867, a House Sparrow 

 was taken to Fisher, one of the Eton bird-stufifers, 

 with a pure white head ; it had, however, no other 

 white feathers about it. This bird was shot near 

 Windsor, and belongs to the Rev. M. Steele, who 

 resides in the neighbourhood. 



It is said to be the custom with tailors, when they 

 catch an unlucky sparrow, to tie a piece of red cloth 

 round its head and to let it fly, when it is immediately 

 chased and put to death by the other birds. 



Greenfinch {Cocothranstcs chloris). A common 

 resident throughout the year, frequenting orchards, 

 gardens, and hedges, where it does the farmer and 

 gardener good service by eating up many noxious 

 insects which infest the trees. It is numerous in 

 every part of the two counties, and is rather a late 

 breeder. I have found quite a colony of these birds 

 nesting in the same hedge, and having some eight 



