BIRDS 28. Wren 29. Tree-Creeper 30. Pied Wagtail 31. Grey Wagtail 32. Yellow Wagtail 33. Tree-Pipit 34. Meadow-Pipit 35. Red-backed Shrike 36. Spotted Flycatcher 37. Swallow 38. House-Martin 39. Sand-Martin 40. Greenfinch 41. Hawfinch 42. Goldfinch 43. House-Sparrow 44. Tree-Sparrow 45. Chaffinch 46. Linnet 47. Lesser Redpoll 48. Bullfinch 49. Corn-Bunting 50. Yellow Hammer 51. 52. 53- 54. 55. 56. 57 Reed-Bunting Starling Magpie Jackdaw Carrion-Crow Rook 58. Sky-Lark 59. Swift 60. Nightjar 61. Green Woodpecker 62. Great Spotted Wood- pecker 63. Lesser Spotted Wood- pecker 64. Kingfisher 65. Cuckoo 66. Barn-Owl 67. Long-eared Owl 68. Tawny Owl 69. Sparrow-Hawk 70. Kestrel 71. Heron 72. Mute Swan 73. Mallard 74. Teal 75. Tufted-Duck 76. Wood-Pigeon 77. Stock-Dove 78. Turtle-Dove 79. Black Grouse 80. Red Grouse 8 1. Pheasant 82. Partridge 83. Red-legged Partridge 84. Land-Rail 85. Water-Rail 86. Moorhen 87. Coot 88. Lapwing 89. Woodcock 90. Common Snipe 91. Common Sandpiper 92. Curlew 93. Great Crested Grebe 94. Little Grebe The following occasionally nest in the county : 95. Stonechat 96. Nightingale 97. Twite 98. Crossbill 99. Wood-Lark IOO. Wryneck id I. Merlin 102. Quail 103. Redshank The birds of prey are well represented, and several species might once again become general if not destroyed owing to the supposed exigencies of game preservation and its accompanying cruel pole-trap, while on the other hand game preservation and the consequently quiet and carefully guarded woods have during recent years conduced to the nesting of the woodcock (Scolopax rusticula) in increasing numbers and of the tufted-duck (Fuligula cristata), many pairs of which now breed in the south-west of the county. The greater interest recently taken in wild bird life has directed public attention to our fast diminishing avifauna, with the result that the County Council orders made in pursuance of the Wild Bird Protection Acts are without doubt beginning to bear fruit, and it is possible that some species of wild birds such as the great crested grebe (Podicipes cristatus), the kingfisher (Alcedo ispida) and the white owl (Strix fammea) now fast decreasing in numbers in the county, may yet be saved. As education advances and the game preserver and gamekeeper become conversant with the life history and food of the hobby (Fa/co sub- buteo), the merlin (Fa/co <zsa/on), the nightjar (Caprimulgus europceus) and the woodpeckers, it is to be hoped they may stay their hand when on the trigger of deadly firearms, and also abolish the cruel pole-trap which even proves fatal sometimes to the very birds which it is supposed to protect. 141
