Page:The New Forest - its history and its scenery.djvu/335

 . (Larus ridibundus, Lin.)

. (Larus tridactylus, Lin.)

. (Larus canus, Lin.)

. (Larus fuscus, Lin.) Used formerly to breed in the Freshwater Cliffs of the Isle of Wight.

. (Larus marinus, Lin.)

The difficulty in the foregoing list has been to decide which species to insert or omit. Many which I have left out, others, perhaps, would have given, will be found placed amongst my last catalogue of stragglers. But before we take these, let me mention two birds of double passage which visit the Forest.

. (Turtlus torquatus, Lin.) A few appear in the spring, but the greater body in the autumn, when they frequent the yews and mountain ashes, being especially fond of the sweet berries of the former. They will hide and skulk, much as a blackbird does, in the furze and brambles, and old thick hedges on the borders of the Forest. Mr. Rake sends me the following interesting note: "An intelligent working man, somewhat, too, of an ornithologist, told me that a few years since he took its nest with four or five eggs, near Ringwood, having a distinct view of the bird as she left the nest."

. (Charadrius morinellus, Lin.) Little flocks of them may be seen in the Forest in April, and again in the autumn; but they stay only for a few days.

These are the only two birds which I can satisfactorily class as being truly of double passage. The common sandpiper remains to breed, whilst the grey plover and the whimbrel are killed in the depth of winter. The common redshank, which is generally placed in this division, remains all the year, and the greenshank is seen in the summer, whilst the bar-tailed godwit appears too seldom to admit of being classified in this section. We will therefore go on to the next list, which includes all those birds that cannot be arranged in the foregoing divisions, with the rare stragglers which are driven here by accident, or only appear at uncertain intervals.

. (Falco chrysaëlos, Lin.) The last seen was killed, according to Mr. Hart, about twenty years ago, at the mouth of Christchurch harbour.

. (Falco navius, Gmel.) A fine male specimen was shot, Dec. 28th, 1861, by a keeper of Lord Normanton's, in the plantations near Somerley. The bird had been noticed for some days previously hovering over the Forest. Mr. Rake, who saw it in the flesh, tells me that the wings measured six feet from tip to tip, and its weight was exactly eight pounds.

. (Falco albicilla, Gmel.) See Chapter XXII., p. 260.

. (Falco haliæëtus, Lin.) Might almost be classed as a regular visitor in the autumn along the coast.

. (Falco palumbarius, Lin.) Sometimes a stray bird is killed. 313