BIRDS 



have seen the latter bird frequenting the bro- 

 ken stony ground on the highest point of the 

 Cotteswold range about Cheltenham in the 

 summer, and from the solicitude of the bird 

 entertained no doubt of the existence of a nest 

 somewhere near ; and as that locality is not 

 very distant from the Malvern Hills, it is 

 probable that it was the large w^heatear which 

 Lees observed. 



8. Whinchat. Pratincola rubetra (Linn.). 

 This is during the whole of the summer 



one of the commonest of our migratory birds, 

 freely nesting in the fields and meadows, the 

 nest being very frequently mown over in the 

 hay-making season. 



9. Stonechat. Pratincola rubicola (Linn.). 

 The stonechat is much less common than 



the whinchat, and is resident. It frequents not 

 only barren stony places, but also cultivated 

 fields, and may not infrequently be seen perched 

 on the very top sprig of a roadside hedge. The 

 considerable difference in the plumage of the 

 sexes enables the observer to determine at a 

 glance when there are two together that they 

 are a pair ; as that is often the case even in 

 mid-winter it seems not unlikely that the 

 stonechat pairs for life. The nest is usually 

 so well concealed that it is most difficult to 

 find. Generally speaking, some piece of waste 

 land is chosen where the nest will not be laid 

 bare by the scythe. I have found it on the 

 Worcestershire side of the Malvern Hills, 

 where it is said by Lees to appear as a 

 summer visitor — but it is certainly a resident 

 bird. 



10. Redstart. Ruticilla phcEnicurus {Lmn.). 

 The redstart is one of the earliest of our 



summer migrants to visit us and is regularly 



require more than a notice of him as a Wor- 

 cestershire bird. 



13. Nightingale. Daulias luscinia {Lmn.). 



The nightingale is plentiful in the valleys 

 of the Severn, the Avon and the Teme, and 

 such parts of their tributaries as run through 

 low and fertile places ; the higher and com- 

 paratively barren regions of the county are not 

 frequented by this unrivalled songster. But 

 in even the most favoured spots the number 

 of nightingales varies greatly from year to 

 year. One year they may be heard in almost 

 every brake and hedgerow, and in another be 

 thinly scattered, their numbers being readily 

 known by their song. It would not be diffi- 

 cult to make a census of the nightingales in a 

 given area by counting the birds heard singing. 



[Northern Nightingale. DauUas philomela. 



About the middle of June, 1879, I heard 

 the song of some bird, with which I was 

 wholly unacquainted, proceeding from a thick 

 brake of umbelliferous plants, white with blos- 

 som, in the orchard of a house in South 

 Littleton. It was a very loud, clear and 

 continuous song. Proceeding very cautiously 

 I approached quite near to the bird and saw 

 him very distinctly, and indeed watched him 

 for some time. He was of an uniform 

 brown colour, a little paler beneath, and the 

 throat, swollen by song, appeared to be quite 

 white. I have subsequently examined pre- 

 served skins of the northern nightingale and 

 do not hesitate to identify the bird I saw with 

 that species. The only discrepan " lies in 

 the colour of the throat, which is i white, 

 though light-coloured, in the skins. I may, 

 however, observe that Temminck in his work 



the birds of Europe says, ' Gorge blanche., 



distributed, nesting indiscriminately in holes of entourh de gres fonce; which agrees pretty accu 



trees, walls or buildings, usually but not al- 

 ways so far within as not to be seen from 

 outside, and generally discovered, if at all, by 

 the bird flying out. The old orchards of 

 Worcestershire are very favourite places with 

 the redstart, and the nest is often in a hole in 

 an aged apple tree. 



11. Black Redstart. Ruticilla ///;ij (Scopoli). 

 The occurrence of this bird in Worcester- 

 shire was for some time doubtful, resting on 

 the statements of one having been seen at 

 Cracombe, near Evesham. Mr. W. Edwards 

 has, however, disposed of the doubt by the 

 following note : ' Black Redstart found dead 

 in the Priory Church, Malvern, in 1884.' 



12. Redbreast. Erithacus rubecula (Linn.). 

 Though one of the most interesting of our 



resident birds, the robin is too well known to 



rately with what I saw. Herr Gatke met 

 with the northern nightingale once only in 

 Heligoland, and he observes, ' It would there- 

 fore appear that of the many migrants visiting 

 this island from high northern latitudes, or the 

 far east, few persist with such stubbornness in 

 the north-to-south direction of their line of 

 flight as does this species.'] 



14. Whitethroat. Sylvia cinerea (Bechstein). 

 The present species is so common and so 

 well known all through the summer that it 

 may pass with the remark that it is heard in 

 every hedge bottom and almost every bush. 



15. Lesser Whitethroat. Sylvia curruca 

 (Linn.). 

 Although this bird is a common summer 

 visitor it is not nearly so abundant as the last- 

 45 L 



