BIRDS 



again increased. The males arrive first, 

 about the second week in April ; the return 

 migration is nearly finished by the middle of 

 September. An exceptional case of the male 

 singing after the nest was destroyed is men- 

 tioned in the Ornithological Report of Welling- 

 ton College, 1900. 



14. Whitethroat. Sylvia cinerea, Bechstein. 

 Locally, Nettle-creeper, Peggy. 



One of the commonest migrants, arriving 

 towards the end of April and leaving about 

 the end of August or September. 



15. Lesser Whitethroat. Sylvia curruca 



(Linn.). 



Common from the end of April until it 

 leaves us in September ; in this particular 

 part of the county it is as numerous as the 

 former species. 



1 6. Blackcap. Sylvia atricapilla (Linn.). 



Very common, arriving at the end of 

 March or the beginning of April and remain- 

 ing until well on into September. Two 

 broods are sometimes produced in the season, 

 and in 1899, at Park Place, I found a nest 

 with five white eggs. This bird often returns 

 to exactly the same bush for the purpose of 

 reproduction. I have many times marked an 

 old nest in winter, and on revisiting the spot 

 in spring found a new one in or close to the 

 same spot. 



17. Garden-Warbler. Sylvia hortensis, Bech- 



stein. 



Generally distributed, but rare in some 

 parts, as is often the case where the blackcap 

 is common. On this property (Park Place) 

 I have only seen one nest, whereas dozens of 

 blackcaps' nests have been found in one season. 

 The garden-warbler arrives rather later than 

 the blackcap, but departs about the same 

 time. 



1 8. Dartford Warbler. Sylvia undata (Bod- 



daert). 



In the Birds of Berks and Bucks, p. 22, it is 

 stated that this bird ' is resident throughout 

 the year with us, but is nowhere numerous.' 

 The late C. E. Stubbs saw one on Maidenhead 

 Thicket and recorded the fact in his notes. 

 It used to breed at Sunninghill and seems to 

 have been fairly common. A nest was found 

 at Frogmore in the summer of 1866, and 

 both parents were shot. Mr. Thatcher, 

 taxidermist, of Henley-on-Thames, informs 

 me one taken in this county passed through 

 his hands in 1888. 



19. Golden-crested Wren. Regulus cnstatus, 



K. L. Koch. 

 Locally, Goldcrest. 



Plentiful and resident, though probably our 

 stock is increased by migrants from the con- 

 tinent in winter. It breeds where conifers 

 and especially yew-trees are found, but it is 

 irregular in its time of nesting, as I have 

 found much-incubated eggs on April 30, and 

 incompleted sets by the middle of May. 

 Only one brood is reared in the season. 



20. Chiffchaff. Phylloscopus rufus (Bech- 



stein). 



Very abundant and our earliest migrant ; 

 it is generally heard or seen by March 23 

 and often before. So numerous is it in cer- 

 tain seasons that I have found upwards, of 

 thirty nests on a small property of a few 

 hundred acres ; not one of these was placed 

 quite on the ground, neither has the writer 

 ever seen one in that situation. Mr. Howard 

 Saunders says (Manual of Brit. Birds, p. 68, 

 ed. 2) : ' The song, if such it may be called, 

 ends in May to begin again in September' ; but 

 I can only say that on June 28, 1901, several 

 were in full song, though perhaps this may be 

 accounted for by the extreme dryness of the 

 season which advanced their moult, for it is 

 after the moult that the bird begins to sing 

 again. 



21. Willow - Wren. Phylloscopus trochilus 



(Linn.). 



An abundant summer migrant ; arrives a 

 fortnight or so later than the last species and 

 leaves about the fourth week of September. 

 The nests here are generally placed on the 

 ground ; but I have found them raised a few 

 feet, and in one case as much as 10 feet. 



22. Wood - Wren. Phylloscopus sibilatrix 



(Bechstein). 



A regular migrant, arriving about the first 

 week in May ; not very abundant, but a pair 

 or two may be looked for in most of the 

 woods where trees are fairly large, preference 

 being shown in this district for beech. This 

 bird is truly a 'leaf warbler, singing all 

 through May and part of June high up in the 

 thickest foliage. For some unknown reason 

 they are certainly more common than they 

 were a few years since, and are on the in- 

 crease. 



23. Reed - Warbler. Acrocephalm streperus 



(Vieillot). 



Common in the Thames valley, nesting in 

 the ' rod-beds,' where it shows a preference 

 for those of only a few years' growth. The 



143 



