BIRDS and in this district has increased in an extra- ordinary manner during the last quarter of a century. It is very tenacious of its breeding holes, and a pair or their descendants have produced young ones in a hole in a tree close to this house annually for the last fourteen years. A battle royal takes place each spring first with starlings and then with tits, but with our help they are driven off. Once a blue-tit succeeded in making her nest, but we destroyed it, and the nuthatches were at work next day. 35. Wren. Troglodytes parvulus, Koch. Locally, Jenny Wren. Common and resident, but I think their numbers are slightly increased in spring. 36. Tree-Creeper. Certhia fami/iaris y Linn. Resident in all the wooded portions of the county ; but as far as I am aware it is no- where abundant. 37. Pied Wagtail. Motacilla lugubris, Temminck. Locally, Dishwasher, Water Wagtail. Common ; many are resident, but by far the larger proportion come to us in early spring and take their departure about the middle of October. Almost every lawn has its breeding-pair, but two nests are seldom seen in close proximity. Not only are pied wag- tails pugnacious towards other birds, but they are even intolerant to members of the same species. 38. Grey Wagtail. Motacilla melanope, Pallas. Generally considered a winter migrant to the county, but there is at least one case known of its breeding within our limits. Mr. H. M. Wallis discovered a nest with one young bird and one egg at Padworth Mill near Aldermaston in 1898, and has also observed a male bird at Mapledurham Mill in the summer ; while it has been recorded as a breeding species from the neighbouring coun- ties of Bucks (Birds of Berks and Bucks, p. 26) and Oxon (Birds of Oxfordshire, p. 77). Arriving in September or October, it may often be seen on the banks of the Thames and other streams until its departure in spring. During a heavy snowstorm in December one settled on the balcony of our window. 39. Blue-headed Yellow Wagtail. Motacilla flava, Linn. A rare spring visitor. Mr. Wallis tells me he saw one, a male, seated on the telegraph wires at Thatcham Marsh early in May, 1 890. Mr. Herbert mentions having seen one or two examples near Newbury, but he gives no dates (Newbury District Field Club, 18701, P- 95)- 40. Yellow Wagtail. Motacilla rait (Bona- parte). A regular summer migrant, arriving about the second week in April and returning during the first autumn month. It breeds in low-lying lands, but I have seldom found it on the chalk hills, though often seen some distance from water-meadows which are its haunt. Mr. W. Norman May informs me (in lit.) that at least fifty nests were cut out of vetches in July, 1893, most of these containing young. The nests were considerately placed upon the cocks of mown vetches, and it is interesting to learn that the old birds returned to them ; but since that year, he tells me, hardly a single nest has been found at Thatcham. 41. Tree-Pipit. Anthus trivialis (Linn.). A summer migrant, fairly numerous, and breeding in suitable localities. 42. Meadow-Pipit. Anthus pratensis (Linn.). Locally, Tit-Lark. Resident, but not common as a breeding species. It frequents more open ground than the preceding bird. In spring or autumn large flocks may be seen on migration. 43. Golden Oriole. Oriolus galbula, Linn. A rare summer visitor. One was seen at Billingbear by the late Mr. Briggs, who watched it for some time (Birds of Berks and Bucks, p. 170). In an article written by Mr. Palmer for a Newbury paper in 1886, men- tion is made of another, seen by Mr. Valpy in 1870, atEnborne Street. The Rev. J. G. Cornish tells me that a female was shot at Shellingford near Stamford-in-the-Vale in June, 1896. 44. Great Grey Shrike. Lanius excubitor, Linn. A winter visitor ; it has been seen or taken many times in the county. Dr. Lamb ('Ornith. Bercheria') mentions three ex- amples : a male shot on the banks of the Thames, November 28, 1792 ; a female near Aldermaston, January 6, 1795 ; also another female near the Kennet at Newbury, Decem- ber 20, 1810 ; and during the same year one was taken alive on August 5, and kept in confinement until December 16 following. A bird of the year was shot near Newbury on November 21, 1872 (Zoo/. 1873, p. 3489); in 1885 one was shot at Hungerford and another at Bucklebury in 1878 ; a few weeks
