A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



lows : iris, white with a faint greyish tinge ; 

 feet, pale bluish grey ; joints and webs, 

 blackish ; bill, bluish grey, lightest near base 

 and before tip ; ' nail ' on bill almost black. 

 Width (expanded wings), 75^ cm.; wing in 

 flesh, 22 cm. This specimen is the only one 

 known to have been obtained in Europe. It 

 was in good condition and certainly a genuine 

 wild bird. Careful inquiries made by Mr. 

 N. C. Rothschild have shown that no un- 

 pinioned bird of this species was kept in 

 England and that none had escaped (cf. 

 Bulletin Brit. Orn. Club, Nov. igoi.xii. 25). 



136. Tufted Duck. Fuligula cristata (Leach). 

 Not infrequent as a winter visitor to all 



larger pieces of water, especially the reservoirs, 

 and breeding in some numbers on the Weston 

 Turville (Halton) and Tring reservoirs. 



137. Scaup-Duck. Fuligula marila (Linn.). 

 An occasional but irregular winter visitor 



to the larger pieces of water, such as the Tring 

 reservoirs, the river Chess, and probably the 

 Thames. We have one shot on the Tring 

 reservoir on December 2, 1892, and have 

 seen it at least twice since then, once in large 

 flocks. 



138. Goldeneye. Clangula glaucion (Linn.). 

 An irregular winter visitor, often appearing 



in great numbers on the Tring reservoirs in 

 very cold weather. We have seen many 

 adult males among them, but they are very 

 wild and difficult to approach. Specimens 

 have been shot in various places in Bucking- 

 hamshire. 



139. Common Scoter. QLdemia nigra (Linn.). 

 A rare winter visitor, but sometimes more 



numerous than usual. In 1892 (October and 

 December) there were quite a number of 

 females on the Tring reservoirs, and four 

 females of those dates are now in the Tring 

 Museum. On March 22, 1879, an adult 

 male was shot on the Thames near Windsor 

 (Curtis, Field, 1879, p. 369). Joe Cox, jun., 

 shot a young male at Deadmere, Great Mar- 

 low, on December 18, 1893 (A. H. Cocks, 

 in litt.). 



140. Goosander. Mergus merganser, Linn. 

 The goosander, ' saw-billed duck,' or ' dun 



diver ' is a rare winter visitor. A female 

 (called Mergus serrator, but from the figure 

 a goosander) was shot at Dinton Hall on 

 November 26, 1774. Almost every winter 

 specimens are observed or obtained on the 

 Thames, where it separates Buckinghamshire 

 and Berkshire. In the winter, generally in 

 cold weather, single specimens and small 



parties have from time to time been observed 

 on the Tring reservoirs. Two females were 

 shot on November 8 and 29, 1901. Mr. 

 Alfred Heneage Cocks informs us that one was 

 shot near Great Marlow on January 27, 1881. 



141. Red-breasted Merganser. Mergus ser- 



rator, Linn. 



A much rarer visitor. Mr. Kennedy says 

 only vaguely that individuals are occasionally 

 shot on the Thames. We have not ourselves 

 been able to verify its occurrence on the 

 reservoirs until 1901, when three young males 

 and females were shot on the Marsworth 

 reservoirs, on the Buckinghamshire borders, 

 by Mr. N. C. Rothschild and the keeper. (A 

 year or two before 1883, which was the first 

 year I shot on the reservoirs, the Rev. A. 

 Birch shot a female on Little Tring reservoir, 

 which he had stuffed. W. R.) 



142. Smew. Mergus albellus, Linn. 



As long ago as 1774 this bird was noticed 

 in Buckinghamshire. In that year a female, 

 called Mergus minutus, red-headed smew, was 

 shot on November 23 at Dinton Hall. On 

 January 12, 1891, a young female was shot 

 in the Brewery sewage works below Great 

 Marlow. The only other instance of its 

 occurrence actually in the county is an adult 

 male shot in January 1876, opposite Stone- 

 house on the Thames (A. H. Cocks, Zoologist, 

 1891, p. 153). 



143. Ring-Dove or Wood-Pigeon. Columba 



palumbus, Linn. 



Very common, breeding everywhere. In 

 certain years, apparently only when there is 

 plenty of food in the form of beech-mast, it 

 appears in enormous numbers, as for example 

 in the winter of 1894-5. 



144. Stock-Dove. Columba cenas, Linn. 

 This species nests throughout the county 



where old trees afford nesting-holes. It is 

 however a migrant, leaving us in winter. 

 Kennedy (Birds of Berks and Bucks, p. 55) 

 has apparently confounded the ring-dove and 

 stock-dove, and it is the former (Columba 

 palumbus) which feeds in winter in large 

 flocks on the beech-mast, not the stock-dove, 

 as reported by the Rev. H. Harpur Crewe. 



145. Rock-Dove. Columba livia, Gmelin. 



' A wild, white-rumped pigeon, slightly 

 smaller than the wood-pigeon, and equally 

 distinct from the stock - dove, is, or was, 

 plentiful at one particular spot in Bucking- 

 hamshire, viz. a high chalk cliff, facing the 

 Thames near the lower end of the Danes- 

 field estate, near where Harleyford estate 



146 



