A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



March, 1901, a considerable flock visited a 

 bare upland meadow close to my house and 

 remained several days before taking their 

 departure at the end of the month. They 

 suffer terribly if snow lies on the ground for 

 any length of time, and I have found num- 

 bers dead in rabbit holes in which they had 

 taken refuge. 



4. Fieldfare. Turdus pilaris, Linn. 



Locally, Felt, Blue Felt, Pigeon Felt. 

 Regular and common winter migrants, ar- 

 riving here about the end of September and 

 taking their departure generally in April, but 

 in late springs some remain until May. I 

 once heard one singing, on the wing, in March. 



5. Blackbird. Turdus merula, Linn. 

 Generally distributed throughout the county, 



breeding abundantly in the wooded districts 

 from March to June. A nest taken near 

 here contained the rather unusual number of 

 six eggs, unspotted blue in colour. 



6. Ring-Ouzel. Turdus torquatus, Linn. 



A visitor during both spring and autumn 

 migration, though never in any numbers. 

 Mr. Phillips informs me that a pair com- 

 menced a nest at Farley Hill in April, 1899, 

 but deserted through being too closely watched, 

 and I cannot hear that young have ever been 

 reared in the county. The same gentleman 

 informs me that a ring-ouzel was killed at 

 Winkfield in January, 1894 a somewhat 

 unusual date ; and I have notes of many 

 others taken in Berks. 



7. Wheatear. Saxicola aenanthe (Linn.). 



Locally, White-tail, Fallow-chat. 

 A regular spring migrant, visiting us to- 

 wards the end of March or beginning of April 

 and returning in September. A few pairs 

 breed on many of the open commons. Mr. 

 H. M. Wallis has seen young near Unhill 

 Wood, and I have reason to believe they 

 nest on Maidenhead thicket. 



8. Whinchat. Pratincola rubetra (Linn.). 



A spring migrant. I have met with this 

 bird on arrival at the end of April in bare 

 upland meadows far from its ultimate breed- 

 ing place, and again in August I have taken 

 it close to the river. Its nest may be found 

 on many of the open heaths, but as far as I 

 know never in numbers. 



9. Stonechat. Pratincola rubicola (Linn.). 

 Resident in many parts of the county, but 



much less numerous in winter. A nest was 

 found near Eton in a furze bush 4 feet from 

 the ground, an unusual situation (Birds of 

 Berks and Bucks, p. 21). 



10. Redstart. Ruticilla phcenicurus (Linn.). 



Locally, Firetail. 



A spring migrant, but unaccountably local 

 in its distribution. In thirty years I have 

 only met with three examples in this corner 

 of the county. One, a male, I saw twenty 

 years ago ; and a pair nested and reared their 

 young in a box placed in a mulberry tree for 

 tits just in front of the house at Park Place 

 in June, 1895. When living at Maidenhead 

 I never saw the bird, though it has been 

 observed at Cookham ; in the Reading district 

 and near Wokingham it is rarely observed, 

 neither is it mentioned in the Wellington 

 College list. Mr. Cornish informs me it is 

 common enough in the meadow lands near 

 Challow, but scarce at Lockinge five miles off. 

 Mr. Dewe informs me it is common near 

 Faringdon, it is mentioned in the Radley list 

 as numerous in that district, and Mr. Warner 

 says it is of frequent occurrence near Abing- 

 don ; while just over our boundary in Bucks 

 and Oxon, not four miles from here, it breeds 

 regularly. Mr. Wallis tells me he has heard 

 a cock bird singing at Englefield Park, also in 

 the Oak Avenue at Bucklebury ; at Kintbury 

 he has observed it on migration, and thinks 

 it breeds near Mortimer on the Hants border. 



1 1 . Black Redstart. Ruticilla titys (Scopoli). 

 A very rare straggler. One is preserved in 



the Eton College Museum, but the evidence 

 of its being a Berks-killed specimen is not 

 conclusive. That reliable ornithologist the 

 late Mr. Briggs observed one at Formosa 

 during a snowstorm in 1861 (Birds of Berks 

 and Bucks, p. 1 70). 



12. Redbreast. Erithacus rubecula (Linn.). 

 Locally, Robin, Bobby. 



Many are resident, but a partial migration 

 takes place in autumn, and I believe the 

 young are driven off by their parents. Al- 

 though breeding here abundantly they never 

 seem to increase ; about the same number 

 may be seen year after year. 



13. Nightingale. Daulias luscinia (Linn.). 



A regular spring migrant in varying num- 

 bers. In 1900 it was extremely plentiful, 

 and more nests were seen than I ever remem- 

 ber before; the increase or decrease in the 

 numbers noticed in certain localities is often 

 to be accounted for by the alteration of the 

 covert necessary to their habits either by 

 human or natural agency. When the under- 

 growth becomes thick nightingales may be 

 quite common ; when it is cut down the birds 

 entirely disappear and are not seen for some 

 years in fact until the undergrowth has 



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