A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 1 1 . Black Redstart. RuticUla titys (Scopoli). The one I saw on Irchester Church on December 2nd, 1883 (this bird is usually a winter visitor), remains the only record for Northants, though what Lord Lilford {op. cit. i. 109) calls a fairly circumstantial report of its nesting at Orlingbury was given to me by young Mr. Watts. I am now inclined to think that it was a common redstart, which laid white instead of blue eggs. 12. Robin. Erithacus rubecula (Linn.). Common and resident, though partially migratory — numbers cross the Channel. 13. Nightingale. Daulias luscinia (Linn.). A common and welcome summer visitor, arriving early in April, and breeding in thickets, on or close to the ground, leaving early in September. Its breeding range in- cludes all western Europe up to north Germany. 14. Whitethroat. Sylvia c'tnerea (Bechstein). Locally, Peggy, or Nettle-Creeper, or Nettle- Bird. A common summer visitor, arriving in mid-April, breeding in thick hedgerows and bushy places, haunting hedges (where its scolding alarm note at every passer-by attracts attention to it), and leaving us about the end of August. 15. Lesser Whitethroat. Sylvia curruca (Linn.). A summer visitor, as common in North- ants as I have seen it anywhere, though hardly as plentiful as the common white- throat. It arrives in mid-April, but often a week later than the last bird, and breeds in thick hedges or brambly thickets, leaving us in mid-September. 16. Blackcap. Sylvia atricapilla (Linn.). A common summer visitor, arriving about mid-April (though I heard and saw a male in full song in my garden at Thornhaugh on April 7th, 1897), breeding in thick bushes or brambly brakes, it is often double-brooded, and leaves us in September. 17. Garden-Warbler. Sylvia hortensis [Bech- stein). A summer visitor in moderate numbers, though locally common, arriving at the end of April, breeding in thickets, and leaving us about the end of September. Often very abundant in gardens on its autumn migration. 18. Goldcrest. Regulus cristatus,K..L,.K.och. A common resident, especially where coni- ferous trees are plentiful, breeding about the beginning of April on the undersides of fir or yew branches. Enormous numbers cross the North Sea in autumn, from which circum- stance it happens that goldcrests are most numerous with us in winter. 1 9. ChifFchafF. Phylloscopus rufus (Bechstein). Our earliest summer visitor, often heard singing early in March, breeding, in some numbers, in thick grass and low bushes (but very seldom on the ground like the two next species), sometimes double-brooded, leaving us from the end of September to the beginning of November. 20. Willow-Warbler. Phylloscopus trochilus (Linn.). A common summer visitor, arriving early in April, building a domed nest, like the preceding and following species, usually on the ground amongst grass, and generally under trees. It is double-brooded, and leaves about the middle of September. 21. Wood-Warbler. Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechstein). A summer visitor, rare and local in North- ants, only breeding in woods where there is not a great deal of undergrowth, therefore de- serting woods where it has bred for some years because they have got too thick under- neath, as it is doing about here (Thornhaugh). It reaches us about the middle of April, builds a domed nest, without any feathers as lining, on the ground, very carefully hidden, and leaves us in September. I do not think it is double-brooded. 22. Reed-Warbler. Acrocephalus streperus (Vieillot). A local summer visitor, never found far from our larger streams, where it is pretty abundant. It reaches us at the end of April, builds almost always in reed-beds (but occa- sionally in bushes near water), rears, I believe, but one brood, and leaves in September. 23. Sedge-Warbler. Acrocephalus phragmitis (Bechstein). A very common summer visitor, arriving about the middle of April, breeding in thick bushy or reedy places, usually, but not al- ways, near water, and leaving us about the end of September. 24. Grasshopper-Warbler. Locustella navia (Boddaert). A summer visitor, not common, and local in its distribution, preferring young plantations of coniferous trees to breed in. I have known of five nests in one wood the same season, but this is very exceptional in North- 14
