no OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



myself, or have been uncertain as to their identity. 

 I trust, however, ere long to be able to add them 

 to my list, which, amongst those which may be 

 termed our rarer birds, includes the stonechat, 

 whinchat, wheatear, grasshopper warbler, sedge 

 and reed warblers, gold-crested wren, marsh-tit, 

 nut-hatch, tree-creeper, great gray shrike, gold- 

 finch, brambling, siskin, bullfinch, gray wagtail, 

 nightjar, green and spotted woodpeckers, wry- 

 neck, kingfisher (abundant), long and short-eared 

 owls, hen-harrier, heron (abundant), wild-goose, 

 turtle-dove, red-legged partridge, water-rail, stone 

 curlew, gray Phalarope, green sandpiper, puffin, 

 little grebe a goodly list when taken in con- 

 junction with the commoner kinds of land and 

 water birds, and one which few districts can 

 excel, or even equal. The moorhens and 

 water-rails run about on the lawns, one or two 

 pairs of kingfishers annually nest in the bank 

 of the garden overhanging the river, and in 

 the summer months all the commoner kinds of 

 warblers may be found within a hundred yards 

 of my house, to say nothing of flycatchers, 

 wagtails, ring-doves, turtle-doves, jack-daw^s, 

 starlings, meadow-pipits, and such-like. The 

 golden-crested wren builds in a large cedar, 

 the woodpecker, wryneck, and tree-creeper oc- 

 casionally make their appearance, and I have 

 also noticed the great, blue, cole, marsh, and long- 

 tailed tits. The bearded tit has been also found 

 in the neighbourhood, though I have never been 



