A HISTORY OF WARWICKSHIRE 



covered by the chips which have fallen to the 

 ground when the hole was being made. 



89. Kingfisher. Akedo ispida, Linn. 

 There can be little doubt that the diminu- 

 tion in the numbers of this bird has been 

 caused in a great measure by the extremely 

 wet summers of about twenty years ago. In 

 1879 the meadows bordering the streams in 

 the county were in a state of flood for several 

 weeks during the breeding season, and the 

 nests of the kingfishers must have been de- 

 stroyed wholesale. With the return of more 

 favourable nesting times the kingfishers, as 

 might be expected, have become more nu- 

 merous, and although still uncommon more 

 of these beautiful birds may now be seen on 

 the Avon and its tributaries. 



90. Bee-Eater. Merops apiaster, Linn. 



In one instance only has the bee-eater been 

 met with in Warwickshire. Two were seen 

 and one of them shot at Red Hill on the road 

 between Stratford-on-Avon and Alcester on 

 29 May, 1886. The bird which was shot 

 proved to be a female containing enlarged 

 eggs, and had she been spared it is probable 

 that she would have nested somewhere near. 



91. Hoopoe. Upupa epops, Linn. 



Several specimens of this bird which have 

 occurred in the county are preserved in col- 

 lections. One in the Warwick Museum was 

 shot at Brinklow ; another in a private collec- 

 tion was shot at Oak farm, three miles north- 

 west of Stratford-on-Avon ; while a third in 

 the writer's collection was taken at Broom in 

 the parish of Bidford in 1852. A fourth 

 occurred at Henley in Arden, which having 

 been shot was taken to Warwick for preserva- 

 tion,where the present writer saw and examined 

 it. Mr. Chase gives several occurrences of the 

 hoopoe near Birmingham, namely at Witton, 

 Quinton, Oscott, and Baddesley near Tarn- 

 worth. 



92. Cuckoo. Cucu/us canorus, Linn. 



A common summer visitor all over the 

 county. I have long been of opinion that 

 the female cuckoo lays her eggs on the bare 

 ground, from which she takes them in her 

 beak and places them in the nests of other 

 birds ; and I have arrived at that conclusion 

 from having repeatedly met with cuckoos' 

 eggs, and also young cuckoos, in nests into 

 which the cuckoo could not have deposited 

 them by the ordinary process of laying. I 

 believe that on one occasion I disturbed a bird 

 of this species when in the act of laying an 

 egg on the bare ground, or immediately after 

 she had done so. Seeing a cuckoo flitting 



about in a very odd manner on some bare 

 ground at the foot of a large grass-grown 

 heap of earth in the middle of a pasture field, 

 I watched the actions of the bird for a 

 little time until it had settled down on one 

 side of the heap, and then approached it quite 

 closely from the opposite side of the heap, 

 when it flew off in great hurry and alarm, 

 leaving behind it an egg, which was broken and 

 the contents were escaping from the shell. I 

 believe that I surprised a female cuckoo when 

 laying her egg on the bare ground preparatory 

 to conveying it to the nest of some foster 

 parent. 



93. White or Barn-Owl. Strix flammea, 



Linn. 



The time is not very distant when this 

 beautiful and useful bird will have to be 

 reported as rare in the county, for it is 

 yearly becoming less common. In the win- 

 ter of 1898-9 a rather remarkable variety 

 of the barn-owl, which had been taken near 

 Stratford-on-Avon, was brought to Mr. 

 Quatremayne for preservation. It was what 

 has been called an eastern owl, small, very 

 pale in colour, and without the usual yellow- 

 ish buff either above or below. 



94. Long-eared Owl. Asia otus (Linn.) 

 Resident and not rare, though not com- 

 mon. As in other counties it much affects 

 woods in which there are pines or other ever- 

 green trees, in the foliage of which it con- 

 ceals itself by day. 



95. Short-eared Owl. Asia accipltrinus (Pallas) 

 An autumn migrant, appearing in some 



seasons not uncommonly, though never nu- 

 merously. 



96. Tawny Owl. Syrnium aluco (Linn.) 

 Since the barn-owl has become less com- 

 mon the present species is certainly the most 

 abundant owl in Warwickshire. It is a much 

 more watchful bird than that species, and has 

 a way of concealing itself in woods, especially 

 if they contain evergreen trees. 



97. Marsh-Harrier. Circus teruginosus (Linn.) 

 Some years ago two of these birds were 



taken by the keeper in the park at Warwick 

 Castle, and having been preserved by John 

 Spicer of Warwick were afterwards seen by 

 the present writer in the castle. The War- 

 wick Museum contains one taken at Ston- 

 leigh Abbey. All three are in immature 

 plumage. A fourth Warwickshire specimen is 

 mentioned by Mr. Chase as having occurred 

 at Elford near Tamworth. 



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