BIRDS 



adjoins. These birds could always be seen 

 flying thence over the river, and I have shot 

 specimens, but never since I began collecting, 

 and for some years now shooting has been 

 stopped on the river, and I cannot say whether 

 they are still there, but see no reason to the 

 contrary ' (Heneage Cocks in litt.). It is to 

 be considered whether these pigeons are not 

 feral individuals, which very often revert to a 

 wild state and closely resemble wild Columba 

 tivia, or descendants of such. 



146. Turtle-Dove. Turtur communis, Selby. 



Turtur turtur (Linn.). 



A common summer bird, not arriving 

 before the last week in April or early in 

 May. 



147. Pallas's Sand-Grouse. Syrrhaptes para- 



doxus (Pallas). 



' During the visitation of this species in 

 1888 my grandfather saw a flock of birds at 

 Farnham Royal, which from his description 

 were undoubtedly of these birds. I was un- 

 fortunately unable to see them on going to 

 the place about an hour afterwards ' (A. F. 

 Grossman in litt.). W. Rothschild saw three 

 flying overhead when shooting near Halton in 

 1896. 



148. Capercaillie. Tetrao urogallus, Linn. 

 A pair was shot in autumn 1855 at Burn- 

 ham Beeches (Kennedy, p. 182). The author 

 believes that they ' must have escaped from 

 confinement.' 



149. Black Grouse. Tetrao tetrix, Linn. 



In the Field (xxii. 297, September 19, 1863) 

 we find the following interesting note : 

 ' Lord Curzon presents his compliments to 

 the editor of the Field, and begs to inform 

 him that his keeper shot a very fine black- 

 cock in the woods near Penn House, Amer- 

 sham. Lord C. is quite unaware from whence 

 this bird could have come ; he has been seen 

 during the summer, and has been sent to the 

 Earl Howe, at Gopsall near Atherstone.' In 

 1815, according to Kennedy (p. 56), speci- 

 mens were turned out in Berkshire, and the 

 author says that the last of these which came 

 under his notice was one of which the Rev. 

 Bryant Burgess told him that it was killed on 

 Hyde Heath near Chesham in 1852. Possibly 

 this was also a descendant of the stock turned 

 out in Berkshire in 1815 (?). 



150. Pheasant. Phasianus colckicus, Linn. 

 (The above name is the one adopted by Mr. 



Saunders, but the ordinary English pheasant ot 

 to-day being a cross between P. colchicus and 

 P. torquatus, more resembling the latter, inas- 

 much as almost every specimen has a wide 



white ring, the above name is somewhat 

 illogical.) 



Large numbers are reared in many places, 

 and many are breeding wild in the woods, 

 though of course pheasants are introduced 

 birds. No other species has established it- 

 self, though Japanese and other species have 

 often been reared and crossed with English 

 pheasants. 



[The Californian quail has been turned out 

 in various places, but, unlike the pheasant, has 

 not become an established species at all. In 

 1867 they were breeding successfully near 

 Great Marlow, and in 1897 a specimen was 

 shot near Newport Pagnell.] 



151. Partridge. Perdix cinerea, Latham. 

 (Perdix perd'ix is the name we would pre- 

 fer for the partridge.) 



Common, except in wooded parts. 



152. Red-legged Partridge. Caccabis rufa 



(Linn.). 



Also fairly numerous, though somewhat 

 local, being fonder of dry ground than of 

 low meadows. It is now as much a wild 

 bird as the grey partridge, though originally, 

 but more than a century ago, introduced. 



153- Quail. Coturnix communis, Bonnaterre. 

 The quail is now decidedly rare. Wher- 

 ever it is anything like common its delightful 

 ' wet-my-lips ' is heard in the fields in spring 

 and summer, and it is flushed in September 

 when walking up partridges. Now however 

 one may walk through the fields in autumn 

 for days without coming across a single quail, 

 and ride or walk through the county for many 

 miles in spring without hearing the call. Last 

 year E. Hartert was cycling over the greater 

 part of the county and heard the quail only 

 twice near Cheddington and Leighton Buzzard. 

 Until three years ago we heard its call near 

 Marsworth in June, but even then it was a 

 rare bird. Even in 1868 Clark Kennedy 

 called it 'not common.' He then told us 

 that ' the majority of quails which were ob- 

 tained were shot either in May or September.' 

 Now nobody will be brutal enough to shoot 

 quail in May ; such habits must have de- 

 creased their number, but nevertheless the 

 high farming and drainage have probably 

 done more than persecution to make the 

 quail so rare. 



154. Land-Rail or Corn-Crake. Crtx pra- 



tensis, Bechstein. 



Crex crex (Linn.). 



The land-rail is nowhere numerous, but we 

 have heard its unmistakable call-note in spring 

 and summer near Marsworth, Chesham, Ayles. 



147 



