BIRDS 



1. Missel or Mistletoe Thrush. Turdui 



viscivorus, Linn. 

 Locally, Stormcock. 

 Common and resident, though to a certain 

 extent a migrant in spring and autumn ; 

 breeds as early as March, usually raising two 

 broods in a season. Morton (17 12) adds the 

 local name 'sprite,' a name I have not heard. 



2. Song-Thrush. Turdui musicus, Linn. 



Locally, Mavish. 

 Very common and resident, though the 

 individuals with us in winter are probably 

 not those which breed with us, as the bird is 

 only a summer visitor to Norway, and a win- 

 ter visitor to northern Africa, and doubtless 

 migratory everywhere between these points. 

 Breeds early, often in March, in bushes and 

 hedges, and is ' double-brooded.' Very use- 

 ful in gardens on account of its fondness for 

 snails, etc. 



3. Redwing. Turdus iliacus, Linn. 



A common winter visitor ; breeding in 

 colonies in low bushes, or almost on the 

 ground, in Iceland and arctic Europe, reach- 

 ing us about the end of September and stay- 

 ing till early April ; sometimes goes as far 

 south in severe weather as north Africa. No 

 local name that I have heard. 



4. Fieldfare. Turdus pilaris, Linn. 



Locally, Felt or Pigeon-Felt. 

 A common winter visitor, bolder and 

 more often seen and heard than the last 

 species (though probably not much more 

 abundant), reaching us about the first week 

 in October and staying till mid-April, or 

 occasionally the beginning of May. It breeds 

 usually in forks of birch trees in arctic 

 Europe, and wanders in winter to the Medi- 

 terranean shores of Europe, occasionally visit- 

 ing north Africa. There is no proof that this 

 bird, or the last, has ever nested in Britain. 



5. Blackbird. Turdus meru/a, Linn. 

 Common and resident, which does not pre- 

 vent its being a migratory bird, as in the case 

 of the thrush. Breeds rather later than that 

 bird, also raising two broods ; like all black 

 birds, is liable to albinism, and yellow-coloured 

 varieties are sometimes met with. As a proof 

 of its migratory habits in Britain, I may men- 

 tion a cock blackbird with a white head, 

 which visited for two years a wood in North- 

 umberland of which I had the shooting ; it 

 was always visible from spring to autumn, 

 raised two broods of young birds more or less 

 resembling itself, and after September van- 

 ished till next spring. A fine songster, but 

 very tiresome in the fruit season, and less use- 



ful to the gardener than the thrush ; Lord 

 Lilford (i. 98) has never observed it cracking 

 snails on a stone as the thrush does, nor have I. 



6. Ring-Ousel. Turdus torquatus, Linn. 



A regular migrant, passing through our 

 county in spring and autumn on its way to 

 and from the moors where' it breeds (down to 

 Wales and Derbyshire, and even in the wilder 

 mountainous parts of the south-west) to the 

 south. I have not uncommonly seen it when 

 partridge-shooting, usually near high hedges ; 

 it is more commonly seen, as far as my ex- 

 perience goes, in mid-Northants (near Ir- 

 chester) than in the eastern part of the 

 county. Morton reports it to have bred near 

 Clipston, which Lord Lilford properly dis- 

 credits. Nests on the ground, breeds in 

 arctic regions as well as the mountainous 

 parts of central and even southern Europe 

 (Pyrenees), going southwards in winter to 

 Egypt and north Africa. 



7. VVheatear. Saxicola cenanthe (Linn.). 



A spring and autumn migrant, appearing 

 about the beginning of March and beginning 

 of September. Used to breed not uncom- 

 monly on our heaths, but is almost extinct 

 with us as a breeding bird, on account ot the 

 gradual cultivation of its breeding grounds. I 

 saw a brood of young birds, barely able to fly, 

 with their parents beside an old quarry near 

 Thornhaugh in 1893, where they had cer- 

 tainly bred ; but they have not bred there 

 since ; nests are found in a crack of a wall or 

 rock, a mouse-hole, or rabbit-burrow, and they 

 prefer open stony country. 



8. Whinchat. Pratincola rubetra (Linn.). 



A summer visitor, locally common, reach- 

 ing us in mid-April, breeding on grassy banks 

 and commons, especially railway embank- 

 ments, leaving about the beginning of Sep- 

 tember, though birds from further north and 

 west may be seen with us on passage a fort- 

 night later. 



9. Stonechat. Pratincola rubicola (Linn.). 



A resident, though partially migratory ; not 

 at all abundant in Northants, as it is a bird 

 that prefers gorse commons, and breeds under 

 whin bushes. Oftenest seen on migration 

 across country in September. 



10. Redstart. Rutici//a phcenicurus (Linn.). 

 Locally, Firetail. 



A summer visitor, appearing early in April, 

 breeding (often twice) in holes in walls, ivy, 

 or decayed trees, leaving us early in Septem- 

 ber. Its breeding range extends from the 

 North Cape to Spain, and from Britain to the 

 Yenesei. 



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