A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



1 8. Mr. Alfred Heneage Cocks writes : 

 1 An extraordinary number, I should say 

 about a million, was seen over the river and 

 pool at Great Marlow opposite our house 

 about 4 to 5 p.m. on September 18, 1896. 

 Some hundreds were seen on October 7, 

 1899." An old bird and two young were 

 seen by the same gentleman at Great Marlow 

 on November 13, 14, and 15, 1889. 



49. Sand-Martin. Cotile riparia (Linn.). 

 Breeds where there are suitable places for 



it, i.e. sand-pits, river-banks, etc. It is fre- 

 quently seen on the Thames. Albinos are 

 not frequent in this species. According to 

 Clark Kennedy (p. 91) an albino was shot on 

 the river near Marlow, by Mr. F. Wheeler, 

 in August 1867. A whitish variety was 

 shot just on the borders of Bucks near one of 

 the Tring reservoirs on July 20, 1901. The 

 upperside is pale greyish white, wings and tail 

 slightly more greyish ; underside white, the 

 band across the chest hardly noticeable. 

 The specimen was a male. The iris and 

 pupil were of an almost colourless watery 

 appearance, the feet were pale flesh-colour. 



50. Greenfinch. Ligurinus Moris (Linn.). 

 Extremely common all the year round. 



51. Hawfinch. Coccothraustes vulgaris, Pallas. 

 (We consider that the correct name is 



Coccothraustes coccothraustes [Linn.].) 



Somewhat local and generally not common. 

 Mr. Alfred Heneage Cocks writes : ' Its 

 numbers are probably increasing. It nested 

 just outside our garden at Great Marlow in 

 1890, and in 1891 about 30 feet high in a 

 Scotch fir in our garden. For many years it 

 has been nesting at Bisham Abbey near 

 Great Marlow, Bucks.' Mr. Grossman says : 

 'This bird used to breed near Great Marlow, 

 and is now to be found in increasing numbers 

 in Burnham Beeches and the surrounding 

 neighbourhood. I saw a number of these 

 birds for two successive winters at Denham.' 

 Mr. Kennedy records it breeding at Latimer 

 near Chesham ; the Rev. H. Harpur Crewe 

 stated that a few pairs were breeding almost 

 every year in the park at Hartwell House 

 near Aylesbury. Near Chequers Court it is 

 rare. We have seen it or had specimens 

 from Halton, Cholesbury, St. Leonard's, 

 Chesham and Stowe Park. 



52. Goldfinch. Cardmlis elegans, Stephens. 

 (The correct name, in our opinion, would 



be Carduelis carduelis [Linn.].) 



This bright-coloured bird is nowhere 

 common. Though it is seen everywhere 



occasionally and breeds in limited numbers in 

 many places it seems to decrease. Every- 

 body complains about the professional bird- 

 trappers. The Rev. H. D. Astley says that 

 they spread their nets with decoys on the 

 hills above Wendover, where the goldfinch is 

 ' not nearly so numerous as twenty years ago.' 

 We saw it occasionally near Cholesbury, 

 Chesham, Aylesbury and Cheddington. Mr. 

 Grossman has seen it only ' very occasionally ' 

 in southern Buckinghamshire. 



53. Siskin. Carduelis spinus (Linn.). 



An irregular winter visitor, rare or un- 

 noticed in some mild winters, generally more 

 frequent in cold winters with much snow. 

 In the hard winters of 1866-7 anc ' ^57 

 great numbers were seen and many were cap- 

 tured near Windsor. Bird-trappers often 

 catch it. 



54. House-Sparrow. Passer domesticus (Linn.). 

 Only too numerous everywhere. Albinos 



and pied varieties have been taken too fre- 

 quently to enumerate them. Certainly one 

 of our earlier breeders, the young being not 

 unfrequently hatched in the middle of April, 

 but it breeds very late into July. Two broods 

 are the rule, but three are not unfrequent. 



55. Tree-Sparrow. Passer montanus (Linn.). 



' A resident species, but nowhere numerous 

 and very local.' Those words were written 

 by Clark Kennedy in 1858 (Birds of Berks 

 and Bucks, p. 32), and we find this statement 

 still correct, though it must be admitted that 

 this sparrow is doubtless overlooked by many 

 casual observers. We have specimens from 

 Aston Clinton in the Tring Museum ; it nests 

 near Buckingham, where Mr. Kennedy re- 

 ports a case of a nest in a sand martins' hole. 

 Specimens have been killed at Datchet, 

 Slough, Newbury and Aylesbury. 



56. Chaffinch. Fringilla Calebs, Linn. 

 Certainly one of the most common birds, if 



not the most numerous bird of the county. 

 Nests everywhere and is seen during the win- 

 ter in flocks, many of which must have come 

 from the north. 



57. Brambling. 

 Linn. 



Fringilla montifringilla, 



The brambling appears every winter, though 

 many people mistake it apparently for the 

 very different chaffinch. We have frequently 

 seen flocks late in October, and W. Roth- 

 schild saw a great flock near Eddlesborough 

 as late as March 3, 1902, but they are noticed 

 most frequently in December and January. 



