A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



1 1 . Black Redstart. RuticUla titys (Scopoli). 

 The one I saw on Irchester Church on 



December 2nd, 1883 (this bird is usually a 

 winter visitor), remains the only record for 

 Northants, though what Lord Lilford {op. cit. 

 i. 109) calls a fairly circumstantial report of 

 its nesting at Orlingbury was given to me by 

 young Mr. Watts. I am now inclined to 

 think that it was a common redstart, which 

 laid white instead of blue eggs. 



12. Robin. Erithacus rubecula (Linn.). 

 Common and resident, though partially 



migratory — numbers cross the Channel. 



13. Nightingale. Daulias luscinia (Linn.). 



A common and welcome summer visitor, 

 arriving early in April, and breeding in 

 thickets, on or close to the ground, leaving 

 early in September. Its breeding range in- 

 cludes all western Europe up to north 

 Germany. 



14. Whitethroat. Sylvia c'tnerea (Bechstein). 



Locally, Peggy, or Nettle-Creeper, or Nettle- 

 Bird. 



A common summer visitor, arriving in 

 mid-April, breeding in thick hedgerows and 

 bushy places, haunting hedges (where its 

 scolding alarm note at every passer-by attracts 

 attention to it), and leaving us about the end 

 of August. 



15. Lesser Whitethroat. Sylvia curruca 



(Linn.). 

 A summer visitor, as common in North- 

 ants as I have seen it anywhere, though 

 hardly as plentiful as the common white- 

 throat. It arrives in mid-April, but often a 

 week later than the last bird, and breeds in 

 thick hedges or brambly thickets, leaving us in 

 mid-September. 



16. Blackcap. Sylvia atricapilla (Linn.). 



A common summer visitor, arriving about 

 mid-April (though I heard and saw a male in 

 full song in my garden at Thornhaugh on 

 April 7th, 1897), breeding in thick bushes or 

 brambly brakes, it is often double-brooded, 

 and leaves us in September. 



17. Garden-Warbler. Sylvia hortensis [Bech- 



stein). 

 A summer visitor in moderate numbers, 

 though locally common, arriving at the end 

 of April, breeding in thickets, and leaving us 

 about the end of September. Often very 

 abundant in gardens on its autumn migration. 



18. Goldcrest. Regulus cristatus,K..L,.K.och. 



A common resident, especially where coni- 

 ferous trees are plentiful, breeding about the 



beginning of April on the undersides of fir or 

 yew branches. Enormous numbers cross the 

 North Sea in autumn, from which circum- 

 stance it happens that goldcrests are most 

 numerous with us in winter. 



1 9. ChifFchafF. Phylloscopus rufus (Bechstein). 

 Our earliest summer visitor, often heard 



singing early in March, breeding, in some 

 numbers, in thick grass and low bushes (but 

 very seldom on the ground like the two next 

 species), sometimes double-brooded, leaving us 

 from the end of September to the beginning 

 of November. 



20. Willow-Warbler. Phylloscopus trochilus 



(Linn.). 

 A common summer visitor, arriving early 

 in April, building a domed nest, like the 

 preceding and following species, usually on the 

 ground amongst grass, and generally under 

 trees. It is double-brooded, and leaves about 

 the middle of September. 



21. Wood-Warbler. Phylloscopus sibilatrix 



(Bechstein). 

 A summer visitor, rare and local in North- 

 ants, only breeding in woods where there is 

 not a great deal of undergrowth, therefore de- 

 serting woods where it has bred for some 

 years because they have got too thick under- 

 neath, as it is doing about here (Thornhaugh). 

 It reaches us about the middle of April, builds 

 a domed nest, without any feathers as lining, 

 on the ground, very carefully hidden, and 

 leaves us in September. I do not think it is 

 double-brooded. 



22. Reed-Warbler. Acrocephalus streperus 



(Vieillot). 

 A local summer visitor, never found far 

 from our larger streams, where it is pretty 

 abundant. It reaches us at the end of April, 

 builds almost always in reed-beds (but occa- 

 sionally in bushes near water), rears, I believe, 

 but one brood, and leaves in September. 



23. Sedge-Warbler. Acrocephalus phragmitis 



(Bechstein). 

 A very common summer visitor, arriving 

 about the middle of April, breeding in thick 

 bushy or reedy places, usually, but not al- 

 ways, near water, and leaving us about the 

 end of September. 



24. Grasshopper-Warbler. Locustella navia 



(Boddaert). 

 A summer visitor, not common, and local 

 in its distribution, preferring young plantations 

 of coniferous trees to breed in. I have 

 known of five nests in one wood the same 

 season, but this is very exceptional in North- 



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