262 
I'rilish Birds in and aroiDid iiiy .U'iarirs. 
Another iinc^jiiimon visitor is tlie C"rossl)ill, one of wliich 
was foinid on tlie lawn one snnniier. witli a dainaijed wini;'. It 
lived for some time in one of the aviaries. 
\\'a,i;"tails are very numerous, and either Pied, Clrey, or 
^'ellow are nearly always to be seen running- about the lawn, or 
over the wires of the aviaries, on which they seem to fmd a 
lilenli'ul supply of food. 
( )ne dav this year, a stran,q-e bird was seen bathinj^' in a 
pool of water, left after rain on a sheet of i^alvanized iron, on 
the top of one of the aviaries. This proved to be an immature 
specimen of tlie Common .Sandjiiper, a bird not infreqitently 
seen on the afore-mentioned stream, but always in adult 
plumaj^e. 
On another occasion great excitement was caused amongst 
mv children bv the advent of a Little (Irebe on the lawn. 
Numbers of them are l^red every year on the pond, but how 
this one arrived on the lawn I cannot say. I was surprised 
to find how quickly it could run — or rather waddle, but it was 
quite unable to get on the wing. Needless to say. Moorhens 
are very numerous, and in hard weather they even venture into 
the stable yard. 
That gorgeous fellow, tlie Kingfisher, can be seen every 
day, but that still more interesting bird, the Dipper, only visits 
us at long intervals. I always thought that this bird entered 
the water by walking into it. but one day this summer T was able 
to watcli one at very close range, feeding in water about a foot 
deep, and found that it dived in, taking a complete header, in 
fact. 
Amongst the birds of prey, the harsh voices of two 
species of Owds — the Barn and the Brown, are to be heard most 
nigh':s, and one sometimes gets .^limnses of the birds 
themselves. Owds seem verv plentiful these war times. I was 
covert shooting in the neighbourhood one day this week 
(November) and saw three species, the two alreadv mentioned, 
and the Little Owd. There was nuite a flock of the Brown Owl, 
a bird not usually spared by game preservers, but the absence 
of gamekeepers at the front has given all these birds a chance 
