BIRDS 



interest in birds and the recent development in the machinery of the 

 Wild Birds Protection Acts have undoubtedly checked, to some slight 

 extent, the insane desire to slaughter all and every species which present 

 the slightest peculiarity ; and this effect is quite noticeable in the case of 

 such charming residents as the kingfisher and great crested grebe ; 

 whilst there is little doubt that the numbers of many both resident and 

 migrant natives, chiefly amongst the smaller classes, which find a sanctum 

 in the carefully-guarded pheasant woods and there live unnoticed by the 

 keeper, sharing elsewhere as well the benefit of the two former advan- 

 tages, have largely multiplied. Surrey may be said to be a small-birds' 

 paradise. The wheatear on the downs, the cirl bunting on the high 

 chalk hills, the grasshopper and even the Dartford warbler on the furze 

 commons find a home : the nightingale abounds, and so, too, many 

 other warblers the reed, the sedge, the blackcap, the garden, the 

 willow, the chiffchaff, the wood, and both the whitethroats. The 

 finches are nearly all found ; the hawfinch frequents all rural Surrey, and 

 the goldfinch in winter is quite common, though now a local breeding 

 species. The crossbill visits the fir-tree districts every winter, and no 

 doubt sometimes stays to nest ; so, too, the siskin, lesser redpoll and 

 tree-sparrow. Sometimes the oriole and hoopoe visit the woods, and 

 if not molested, would breed regularly. The three woodpeckers all are 

 resident, and the wagtails the pied, the yellow and the grey are 

 often, the first always, seen. Even the snipe and teal, the water-rail 

 and quail, the wild duck and woodcock still sometimes nest the 

 wild duck often, but the others more rarely ; while in winter all kinds 

 of wildfowl flock to the big lakes. The pochard, the wigeon, the 

 tufted duck, the goldeneye, and even the pintail, then may at times be 

 seen. From a purely ornithological point of view the still wilder dis- 

 tricts of the west and south-west portions of the county are by far the 

 most interesting. Here, round the big meres of Frensham and on the 

 margins of these and neighbouring lakes drop many migrant waders. 

 The common sandpiper and the green are not uncommon in many local 

 places ; but on these sheets of water the redshank, the greenshank, the 

 dunlin, the ringed plover, the curlew, and even the black-winged stilt 

 have been recorded, and many other species of rarity and local value. 

 Here, too, in hard weather flock gulls and terns, and even an occasional 

 cormorant, and many of the rarest county records have been obtained 

 from this neighbourhood, and the zoological journals show from the 

 earliest years of the century a long local death-roll. 



The black grouse is perhaps on the whole the most interesting 

 county bird. From time immemorial it inhabited the two districts sur- 

 rounding Leith Hill and Hindhead, and was until some time twenty 

 years ago regularly pursued for sport. It was frequently assisted by im- 

 portation, and for many years by this aid well held its own. It is at the 

 present day almost, if not absolutely, extinct a sad loss. Surrey has 

 never, until this year (1900), had a complete history of its birds written. 1 



1 The Birds of Surrey, by John A. Bucknill, M.A. London (1900) : R. H. Porter. 



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