A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



winter, keeping to their familiar haunts and 

 being comparatively tame where they are not 

 persecuted. In autumn and spring however 

 great numbers pass through on migration. 

 As a rule it is easy to distinguish them from 

 our own home-birds, as they keep in flocks 

 and are very shy, though in severe weather 

 they are bolder. In the Thames valley the 

 song-thrush is often called ' thrasher ' and 

 ' throstle.' 



3. Redwing. Turdus iliacus, Linn. 



A fairly common, sometimes very numerous 

 winter visitor, generally arriving about the 

 middle of October. Mr. H. Cocks reports a 

 specimen shot at Harleyford on July 28, 

 1871. 



4. Fieldfare. Turdus pilaris, Linn. 



A common winter visitor, but like most 

 migrants much more numerous in some years 

 than in others. We have not as a rule seen 

 them before the end of October, but much 

 earlier dates have been recorded. In the 

 Thames valley, along the borders of Bucking- 

 hamshire and Berkshire, it is called ' pigeon 

 felt 'or 'blue felt.' 



5. Blackbird. Turdus merula, Linn. 



One of the most numerous birds in the 

 county. Pied varieties are not rare. We 

 are sceptical with regard to supposed hybrids 

 of blackbird and thrush. Such birds were 

 offered to the Tring Museum which had been 

 exhibited at one of the Crystal Palace shows 

 and there pronounced to be hybrids, but when 

 we examined them, we found them merely 

 to be freshly moulted, well coloured female 

 blackbirds. 



6. Ring-Ouzel. Turdus torquatus, Linn. 



This species passes through on the autumnal 

 migration as early as the middle of Septem- 

 ber. We have several times seen it near 

 Tring close to the border of Buckingham- 

 shire, and several specimens have been ob- 

 tained near Tring, therefore we believe it to 

 be less rare than it is supposed. Our actual 

 records for Buckinghamshire are, however, 

 very few. One male, shot at Wingrave 

 November 4, 1896, is in the Tring Museum, 

 and Mr. H. Cocks informs us that one was 

 ' shot near Chequers about ten years ago,' 

 and another ' killed at Stoke Mandeville at 

 least as long ago as 1887.' The Rev. Hubert 

 Astley has sometimes observed it amongst 

 juniper bushes near Chequers Court and 

 Wendover during the autumnal migration. 

 Clark Kennedy mentions a specimen shot at 

 Risborough in 1840, and says that the Rev. 



B. Burgess saw one near Chesham on Septem- 

 ber 9, 1862. A pair was observed during 

 the same autumn near Wendover. In 1865 

 a male was killed near Burnham, and accord- 

 ing to the Rev. H. H. Crewe a few can be 

 observed during the migration periods near 

 Drayton Beauchamp. 



7. Wheatear. Saxicola aenanthe (Linn.). 



In the cultivated fields and parks this bird 

 is not met with, except occasionally when 

 passing through on migration, but on com- 

 mons, stony hillsides and such like places it 

 breeds not uncommonly. The Rev. Hubert 



D. Astley informs us that on the sides of 

 Coombe Hill (Chiltern Range), near Wend- 

 over, a few pairs rear their broods every year, 

 also on chalk hills above Princes Risborough, 

 in the vicinity of Whiteleaf Cross. Mr. 

 Arthur Goodson has seen it on a high railway 

 bank near Buckingham in the breeding season, 



E. Hartert not far from Halton, where it 

 also breeds on the chalky hills, and where 

 eggs have been taken by boys and seen by us. 



8. Whinchat. Pratincola rubetra (Linn.). 

 Somewhat locally distributed, as it is a bird 



of the pasture land and fond of the neighbour- 

 hood of rivers and streams, and does not breed, 

 as a rule, on dry hills away from pastures. It 

 occurs sparingly along the Thames ; a few 

 nest in the Vale of Chesham, near Aylesbury, 

 Burnham Beeches, Buckingham and Halton 

 reservoirs. Hartert found it less rare along 

 the river Ouse, especially near Castlethorpe. 

 The Rev. H. D. Astley reports it as 'sometimes 

 seen on the hedges near Chequers Court.' It 

 breeds not rarely on suitable railway embank- 

 ments, if they are well covered with grass. A 

 real summer bird, not arriving before the end 

 of April or first days of May. 



9. Stonechat. Pratincola rubicola (Linn.). 

 The stonechat is if anything more numer- 

 ous than the whinchat, though both can at 

 certain places be found nesting close to- 

 gether. The stonechat is more partial to 

 open commons covered with furze, on dry 

 hills and among the gorse by the roadside. It 

 therefore nests not uncommonly in most 

 places along the Chiltern Hills, where we 

 have frequently observed them. The Rev. 

 H. D. Astley found it nesting near Wendover, 

 where gorse abounds. Mr. Grossman ' found 

 it not uncommon on Farnham Common and 

 on a common between Chesham and Amer- 

 sham,' and met it in some numbers on the 

 road between Amersham and Wycombe, and 

 we have at various times seen it on the road 

 from Aylesbury to Buckingham and near 



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