A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



62. Mealy Redpoll. Linota linaria (Linn.). 

 Under the name of Linota cannabina Dr. 



Lamb says, ' occasional visitants ' (' Ornith. 

 Bercheria '). The editor of the Zoologist in a 

 footnote (Zool. 1880, p. 323) states that the 

 cannabina of Dr. Lamb was most probably 

 the mealy redpoll. 



63. Lesser Redpoll. Linota rufescens (Vieillot). 



Chiefly a winter visitor, very few remaining 

 to breed. A nest was taken near Wellington 

 College, May 20, 1898 (Wellington Coll. 

 Natural Science Report, p. 71), and Mr. Haw- 

 kins writes to me from near Reading that 

 redpolls have frequented the district all the 

 summer of 1901 and probably bred, as 

 although very common in winter, he does 

 not remember to have seen them later than 

 March before. Mr. Phillips informs me that 

 he took a clutch of three incubated eggs at 

 Finchampstead on June 10, 1887. 



[Twite. Linota ftavirostris (Linn.). 



Clark Kennedy wrote of this bird as if it 

 were a regular winter visitor (Birds of Berks 

 and Bucks, p. ui). Personally I have never 

 seen or heard of it in the county, neither can 

 I find an authentic specimen. Mr. Aplin 

 has not recorded it from Oxfordshire.] 



64. Bullfinch. Pyrrhula europeea, Vieillot. 



Common and resident, and, if anything, I 

 think on the increase, in spite of the numbers 

 shot in the kitchen-gardens of this locality, in 

 one of which, less than an acre in extent, I 

 have known twenty-seven killed in three 

 weeks, the owner being oblivious of the fact 

 that each ounce of shot poured into his fruit 

 trees would do more damage than his victims. 

 Bullfinches are very prolific, as we find nests 

 from the later part of April till well on into 

 August. 



65. Pine Grosbeak. Pyrrhula enucleator 



(Linn.). 



One of these birds was seen in the woods 

 near Wellington College by Mr. O. T. Per- 

 kins, and also by Mr. C. M. Rogers on 

 several separate occasions early in December, 

 1901. Mr. Rogers very kindly sent me full 

 particulars, and a note in Nature (December 

 12, 1901, p. 129) is from the pen of the 

 same observer. 



66. Crossbill. Loxia curvirostra, Linn. 

 Chiefly a winter visitor of somewhat irre- 

 gular appearance, but a few pairs remain to 

 breed. Mr. G. O. Hughes tells me (in lit.) 

 that he found a nest at King's Wick, Windsor 

 Forest, in 1882, and although he was unable 



to reach it, on May 1 3 an unfledged bird was 

 picked up underneath the tree. Mr. Long 

 watched a pair building a nest in another 

 part of the forest near Virginia Water, and 

 climbed to it on May 3, 1889, when it con- 

 tained no eggs, neither were any subsequently 

 laid. I have some reason for believing that a 

 nest was made on this estate in 1898, as a 

 pair of birds remained well into May. I 

 have often seen small flocks here and at 

 Hennerton. Mr. Wallis tells me (in lit.) he 

 has observed crossbills at Aldermaston in June, 

 and that they were abundant on both sides of 

 the Berks-Hants border at Silchester all the 

 summer of 1898 ; in the following year he 

 found a nest only a short distance over the 

 border on the Hants side. They have been 

 taken in most parts of the county where fir 

 trees are to be found. 



67. Two-barred Crossbill. Loxia bifasciata 



(Brehm). 



A very rare straggler. Four were seen 

 near Wellington College on February 27, 

 1890 (Wellington Coll. Natural Science Report, 

 1890, p. 71), and one was killed in the same 

 district and reported by Mr. J. Ward (Field, 

 March 8, 1890). 



68. Corn-Bunting. Emberiza miliaria, Linn. 

 Locally, Buntlark. 



A common resident, breeding throughout 

 the county on the high lands. Seldom found 

 near the river or on the Thames meadows. 



69. Yellow Bunting. Emberiza citrinella, 



Linn. 



The yellow 'ammer,' as this bird is 

 frequently called, is the commonest of our 

 buntings, and a resident species, breeding 

 from May to August. In this part of the 

 county I have never found five eggs in a nest, 

 and birds are often discovered sitting on three. 



70. Cirl Bunting. Emberiza cirlus, Linn. 

 Resident, but very local. Morris states 



that he procured one in the vicarage grounds 

 at East Garston, Lambourn, and took a nest 

 in 1826 or 1827. Gould obtained some in 

 the grounds at Formosa. It is fairly common 

 near Faringdon, and a pair nested at Speen 

 near Newbury in 1884 ; also two were shot 

 there in December, 1885 (Guide to Newbury). 

 Two were killed near Maidenhead in 1875, 

 and preserved for me. In June, 1886, I saw 

 a pair feeding their young at Park Place. Mr. 

 Wallis has noticed them near Aldermaston, 

 Aldworth, Finchampstead, and procured a nest 

 at Mapledurham near the Thames ; but they 

 are not recorded in the Radley College list. 



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