SHARPE : A BERKSHIRE RAMBLE. 



89 



know the names. I shot for my collection a good male Whitethroat S. cinerea, 

 Lin. and a little while after we found a nest of the same species with five 

 eggs, on which the old bird was sitting. This, when disturbed, made a 

 peculiarly harsh grating sound ; the nest was in the top of the hedge close 

 to the road. I afterwards shot on Cockmarsh, a hen linnet F. cannahina^ 

 Linn, which fell in the water, and was spoilt, but about five minutes after 

 I shot the most splendid cock-bird I ever saw in my life, his breast was one 

 mass of beautiful red feathers ; I have made a good skin of him. We 

 afterwards enjoyed a pleasant row on the river, and Mr. Ullyett obtained one 

 or two shells, but they were not of much value. The ramble I wish to record 

 is one I had on the 27th, and I think the most beautiful I ever enjoyed. 

 I started from London by the 10. 25. Great Western Train, and arrived at 

 Cookham about 11. 45. In the afternoon I walked out with my gun 

 intending to shoot some of our summer visitants for mj collection; I 

 went through Cookham churchyard, and turned into some fields by the 

 side of the river ; a few swallows were flying over the tops of the standing 

 grass, catching insects. II. rustica, Linn., is comparatively scarce in our 

 neighbourhood to what it has been in former years, while II. urhim, Linn, 

 is still rarer this year. The general scarcity of these birds seems to have 

 been noticed all over the country. H. riparia, Linn, is commoner than 

 I have before notieed it, as is C. apus ; I walked by the side of 

 the river about a hundred yards, when on the top of an old fence, 

 which had once divided the field, I saw three birds sitting ; I took them to 

 be H. rustica, and two of H. urhica, my shot brought down two, which 

 proved to be a male of H. rustica, and a female of H. riparia, so that if I 

 had killed the third, which I plainly distinguished as H. urhica, I should 

 have obtained three of the British Plirundines at the one shot. Leaving them 

 a,t a post to be picked up on my return, I walked another mile without 

 meeting anj'-thing worth notice. Arrived at Cockmarsh, I kept a sharp look 

 out for the Yellow Wagtail, M. jiava, Linn, but though there were plenty of 

 the Pied Wagtail, M, Yarrellii, Gould, to be seen, I could not distinguish 

 one of the former species. Cockmarsh is a large common, as level 

 as a board, boiinded on one side by a steep hill, which extends for a 

 mile to the north, before it reaches Winter Hill, and Quarry-wood, where the 

 woods continue for some way farther on. The incline is very precipitous 

 and it is no little trouble to get to the top ; a large holly hedge runs along 

 the sunmiit most of the way to Winter Hill. Here and there, on the 

 incline, furze bushes are plentiful; and here I hoped to find some Stojacchats, 

 No. 31, August L g 



