A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



bury, Mentmore, Halton, Castlethorpe, New- 

 port Pagnell, Buckingham, Bletchley, Fenny 

 Stratford, or we have seen eggs taken near 

 some of these places. In September we 

 generally flush a few single birds out of the 

 fields when shooting partridges. 



155. Spotted Crake. Porzana maruetta 



(Leach). 



(Porzana porzana would be the more 

 correct name.) 



The spotted crake is a not uncommon, 

 though more or less unobserved, migrant, 

 especially in autumn, and a number of cap- 

 tures are reported from the Thames and 

 places where there is bog, swamp and reed, 

 but no instance of its breeding in the county 

 is known. 



156. Water-Rail. Rallus aquaticus, Linn. 

 We ourselves have seen and shot water- 

 rails in autumn and winter, and received some 

 in spring as late as April 13, but probably it 

 also breeds in various places. According to 

 Clark Kennedy nests have been taken near 

 Eton. 



157. Moor-Hen. Gallinula chloropus (Linn.). 

 Very common, even on small ponds. 



158. Coot. Fulica atra y Linn. 



Very common on all larger waters. On the 

 Halton (Weston Turville) and Tring reser- 

 voirs they breed plentifully, and in winter 

 huge numbers assemble, when they afford 

 some sport for the gun. On the Thames 

 they are comparatively rare, being never very 

 fond of flowing rivers, but more of stagnant 

 lakes and reservoirs or backwaters of rivers. 



159. Thick-knee or Stone-Curlew. (Edicne- 



mus scolopax (S. G. Gmelin). 



(This bird should, in our opinion, be called 

 (Edicnemus aedicnemus [Linn.].) 



This bird is one of the past. Formerly it 

 was by no means uncommon on the chalk 

 hills near Ivinghoe and Drayton Beauchamp 

 (see Kennedy, p. 97) and north of the Thames, 

 near Aylesbury, Buckingham and Slapton, and 

 in other places. In 1868, the Rev. H. 

 Harpur Crewe told Clark Kennedy that ' it 

 may still be often heard whistling overhead 

 on a still summer's night,' but now we 

 have not even trustworthy evidence that it 

 has been heard for years past, and it is not 

 now nesting anywhere in the county as far 

 as we know. 



1 60. Dotterel. Eudromias morinellus (Linn.). 

 Judging from all accounts the dotterel was 



once a bird of regular appearance in the spring 



and autumn migration time, but now it is 

 doubtless very rare, and its visits are ir- 

 regular and far between. As long ago as 

 1868 Clark Kennedy considered it evidently 

 a regular visitor. He says that a few were 

 shot in a field near Burnham in the spring 

 of 1857, that it has been procured in 

 the neighbourhood of Aylesbury and Drayton 

 Beauchamp. The Rev. H. Harpur Crewe 

 (Kennedy, p. 141) had an adult male of this 

 species which was killed by a keeper of Earl 

 Brownlow's on August 14, 1862, in a corn- 

 field near Ivinghoe. In 1856 and 1858 

 several specimens were killed by Mr. Henry 

 Taylor on the banks of the river near 

 Windsor. 



161. Ringed Plover. /Egia/itis hiaticula 



(Linn.). 



A regular visitor during the autumnal mi- 

 gration, very much rarer in spring, on all 

 larger waters. 



162. Golden Plover. Charadrius pluvialis, 



Linn. 



A regular visitor in autumn, but flocks are 

 often seen throughout the winter. Much 

 rarer now than, judging from all accounts, it 

 was in former times. 



163. Grey Plover. Squatarola he/vetica(Linn.). 



On November 25, 1819, one was obtained 

 near Dinton Hall. We have no further re- 

 cord of this bird in Buckinghamshire, but it 

 is bound to occur occasionally, as E. Hartert 

 shot one on December 12, 1897, on the 

 Wilstone reservoir, not more than a few 

 hundred yards from the Bucks borders. 



164. Lapwing or Peewit. Vanellus vulgarly 



Bechstein. 



V. vanellus (Linn.). 



Common throughout the year, breeding in 

 many places, sometimes on quite dry ground. 

 The Rev. H. D. Astley tells us that a few 

 pairs used to breed on Coombe Hill above 

 Wendover, but that they are there no longer. 

 In winter they assemble sometimes in enor- 

 mous flocks. Hard frost and deep snow are 

 disastrous to the lapwing, many dying then 

 of starvation. 



165. Oyster-Catcher. Heematopm ostra/egus, 



Linn. 



According to Clark Kennedy (p. 184) in- 

 dividuals have occasionally been seen and 

 shot on the Thames. As this is a coast bird 

 we cannot look forward to many visits of it 

 in Buckinghamshire. 



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