A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



Woods in November 1839. The female of 

 this pair was in Mr. Burgess's collection. Mr. 

 Heatley Noble tells us that he saw one at 

 Fawley Court in the winter of 1885 or 1886. 



100. White-tailed Eagle. Halia'e'tus albicilla 



(Linn.). 



'In 1846 one was caught in a trap near 

 Chequers Court, the seat of Sir Robert 

 Frankland Russell' (A. & H. Matthews, 

 Zoologist, 1849, p. 2594). Yarrell says that 

 one was taken at Fawley Court, but no de- 

 tails are, unfortunately, given to prove the 

 correctness of this statement. About 1885 or 

 1886 a bird of this species was often seen in 

 the Fawley deer park. It was strictly pre- 

 served and remained there most of the winter. 



101. Sparrow-Hawk. Accipiter nisus (Linn.). 



Common enough in winter and still breed- 

 ing in many woods where permitted to do so. 

 In the Thames valley on the borders of Bucks 

 and Berks it is called ' blue-hawk.' 



1 02. Goshawk. Astur palumbariui (Linn.). 



A male, shot by the Rev. W. Goodall near 

 Dinton Hall on September 10, 1789, is 

 figured in the Dinton Hall MS. work. 



103. Kite. Milvm ictinus, Savigny. 



Milvus milvus (Linn.). 



A kite was killed in the sixties at the reser- 

 voir near Drayton Beauchamp by Mr. S. W. 

 Jenney and passed into the collection of Sir 

 John Harpur Crewe, of Colne Abbey in 

 Derbyshire (Kennedy, p. 163). Mr. Wolley 

 told Mr. Kennedy ' that while out for a stroll 

 one day many years ago in the fields near 

 Eton a kite flew over his head, and so low as 

 to enable him to determine easily the species 

 by its forked tail ' (Kennedy, p. 1 64). (The 

 specimen killed near Drayton Beauchamp was 

 probably shot within the borders of Hertford- 

 shire, but as it is not mentioned in the History 

 of Herts, and has been quoted as having been 

 obtained in Bucks, the record must here be 

 mentioned.) 



1 04. Honey-Buzzard. Pernis apivorus (Linn.). 



Kennedy, p. 1 66, says : ' I am indebted to 

 the Rev. Bryant Burgess for the notice of a 

 honey-buzzard which was captured in 1842 

 between Chesham and Missenden.' Gardner, 

 Field, 1867, p. 73, reports a 'splendid speci- 

 men ' shot near Maidenhead by Captain Rob- 

 son in July. Mr. Aplin, Zoologist, 1882, p. 

 1 1 6, informs me that on or about September 

 23, 1882, two honey-buzzards were killed in 

 Shabbington Woods near Brill. 



105. Peregrine Falcon. Falco peregrinus, 



Tunstall. 



The peregrine is a rare occasional strag- 

 gler, but perhaps less rare than is generally 

 thought. Kennedy (p. 162) writes: 'Mr. 

 James Britton, of the High Wycombe Natural 

 History Society, informed me of one of these 

 birds which had been recently captured in 

 Brickhill Wood near Woburn.' Mr. Cocks 

 writes, in litt.: 'One was trapped at Fawley 

 lately and another killed there about three 

 years ago; fide Mr. W. Rhodes, December 27, 

 1879.' The Rev. Hubert D. Astley informs 

 us that a peregrine falcon, a tiercel, was found 

 drowned in the artificial reservoir on Beacon 

 Hill, Chequers Court Park, in autumn 1898. 

 A male, moulting, was shot at Long-Marston 

 on October 4, 1897, by Mr. Chapman, close 

 to the Buckinghamshire border. 



1 06. Hobby. Falco subbuteo, Linn. 



This pretty little falcon has bred in Buck- 

 inghamshire and, as it is occasionally shot, 

 might possibly do so again if it was left unmo- 

 lested by the gamekeepers. Clark Kennedy 

 wrote (p. 69): ' A pair of these falcons built 

 their nest in a wood not far from Datchet in 

 the summer of 1861. Although the old birds 

 escaped molestation, four young ones were 

 shot at Thorney almost as soon as they had 

 learnt to fly. I saw two of these at Datchet 

 in the collection of Mr. Ferryman, to whom 

 they had been presented.' An adult pair 

 were shot by Mr. Chapman on August 14 

 and 1 6, 1894, near Long-Marston, close to 

 the Buckinghamshire border. 



107. Merlin. Falco tssalon, Tunstall. 



An occasional and probably regular winter 

 visitor. A beautiful adult was shot by Mr. 

 Chapman on the Bucks border near Long- 

 Marston, November 14, 1895. 



1 08. Red-footed Falcon. Falco vespertinus, 



Linn. 



Clark Kennedy (p. 162) writes: 'The in- 

 spector of the Eton police force an intelli- 

 gent man who has a taste for natural history 

 informed me that an orange-legged hobby 

 was shot by the under-keeper on Sir Henry 

 Vernon's estate at Steeple Claydon near Buck- 

 ingham in January 1858. The date is an 

 unusual one at which to find the species here, 

 but my informant is acquainted with the bird 

 and is not likely to have been mistaken.' 



109. Kestrel. Falco tinnunculus, Linn. 

 Common all over the county and nesting 



regularly, though in small numbers. Many 

 are killed by gamekeepers in spite of remon- 

 strances. 



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