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. 148
