BIRDS Before enumerating the birds that are found in Kent, a brief survey of the principal features of the county in relation to its bird life is desirable, since natural conditions influence to a great extent the distri- bution of birds. By possessing a wealth of water, marshland, woods and cultivated districts, Kent is one of the richest counties in England as regards bird life. Its fertile undulating landscape, running in and out from woods and copses to park, meadow and cultivated crop land, hop land and fruit orchards, intersected with hedgerows, which, to borrow an expres- sive phrase, produce ' a well upholstered look,' have earned for Kent the name of ' the Garden of England.' And, when to our county the summer brings the hosts of migrants that make their haunts in the sheltered woods and dells, and fill the country-side with melody, one would think that Kent might also be well called the Garden of Song. The heart of Kent contains principally the district known as the Weald (forest tract), the site in former times of dense impenetrable forests. In this district many woods of considerable size, copses and wooded dells (locally known as ' shaws ' and ' gills ') are to be found, interspersed with timbered parks, young plantations of larch and fir, grass land, hop land and arable fields. During the summer months the woods with their quiet streams, moist-breathing meadows bordering the copses, and stout hedgerow bottoms become the sanctuary of many of our warblers. In these local- ities the nightingale, blackcap-warbler, willow-warbler, chiffchafF, white- throat and lesser whitethroat are to be found nesting ; and in the fir and beech-grown parts the wood-wren — that daintiest and prettiest of our warblers — may be met with, while in the cooler depths of shade and thicket the grasshopper-warbler makes a home. The ranks of many of these summer migrants have greatly increased during the past few summers owing to the heavy plagues of caterpillars that have been experienced in many districts. The small oak-green caterpillar [Tortrix viridana), which every season mercilessly strips many of our oak trees, forms a favourite food, especially of the two white- throats, blackcap and garden-warblers. While these summer denizens of our woods are on the increase, our birds of prey are steadily decreasing. This fact must be put down to cultivation and the large increase in game rearing, and the consequent war waged against them by gamekeepers. For example, in the beginning of the eighteenth century the kite, now extinct in the county, was common. In those days places were rough and wild, cattle and sheep 267
