Page:VCH Berkshire 1.djvu/189

 BIRDS again increased. The males arrive first, about the second week in April ; the return migration is nearly finished by the middle of September. An exceptional case of the male singing after the nest was destroyed is men- tioned in the Ornithological Report of Welling- ton College, 1900. 14. Whitethroat. Sylvia cinerea, Bechstein. Locally, Nettle-creeper, Peggy. One of the commonest migrants, arriving towards the end of April and leaving about the end of August or September. 15. Lesser Whitethroat. Sylvia curruca (Linn.). Common from the end of April until it leaves us in September ; in this particular part of the county it is as numerous as the former species. 1 6. Blackcap. Sylvia atricapilla (Linn.). Very common, arriving at the end of March or the beginning of April and remain- ing until well on into September. Two broods are sometimes produced in the season, and in 1899, at Park Place, I found a nest with five white eggs. This bird often returns to exactly the same bush for the purpose of reproduction. I have many times marked an old nest in winter, and on revisiting the spot in spring found a new one in or close to the same spot. 17. Garden-Warbler. Sylvia hortensis, Bech- stein. Generally distributed, but rare in some parts, as is often the case where the blackcap is common. On this property (Park Place) I have only seen one nest, whereas dozens of blackcaps' nests have been found in one season. The garden-warbler arrives rather later than the blackcap, but departs about the same time. 1 8. Dartford Warbler. Sylvia undata (Bod- daert). In the Birds of Berks and Bucks, p. 22, it is stated that this bird ' is resident throughout the year with us, but is nowhere numerous.' The late C. E. Stubbs saw one on Maidenhead Thicket and recorded the fact in his notes. It used to breed at Sunninghill and seems to have been fairly common. A nest was found at Frogmore in the summer of 1866, and both parents were shot. Mr. Thatcher, taxidermist, of Henley-on-Thames, informs me one taken in this county passed through his hands in 1888. 19. Golden-crested Wren. Regulus cnstatus, K. L. Koch. Locally, Goldcrest. Plentiful and resident, though probably our stock is increased by migrants from the con- tinent in winter. It breeds where conifers and especially yew-trees are found, but it is irregular in its time of nesting, as I have found much-incubated eggs on April 30, and incompleted sets by the middle of May. Only one brood is reared in the season. 20. Chiffchaff. Phylloscopus rufus (Bech- stein). Very abundant and our earliest migrant ; it is generally heard or seen by March 23 and often before. So numerous is it in cer- tain seasons that I have found upwards, of thirty nests on a small property of a few hundred acres ; not one of these was placed quite on the ground, neither has the writer ever seen one in that situation. Mr. Howard Saunders says (Manual of Brit. Birds, p. 68, ed. 2) : ' The song, if such it may be called, ends in May to begin again in September' ; but I can only say that on June 28, 1901, several were in full song, though perhaps this may be accounted for by the extreme dryness of the season which advanced their moult, for it is after the moult that the bird begins to sing again. 21. Willow - Wren. Phylloscopus trochilus (Linn.). An abundant summer migrant ; arrives a fortnight or so later than the last species and leaves about the fourth week of September. The nests here are generally placed on the ground ; but I have found them raised a few feet, and in one case as much as 10 feet. 22. Wood - Wren. Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechstein). A regular migrant, arriving about the first week in May ; not very abundant, but a pair or two may be looked for in most of the woods where trees are fairly large, preference being shown in this district for beech. This bird is truly a 'leaf warbler, singing all through May and part of June high up in the thickest foliage. For some unknown reason they are certainly more common than they were a few years since, and are on the in- crease. 23. Reed - Warbler. Acrocephalm streperus (Vieillot). Common in the Thames valley, nesting in the ' rod-beds,' where it shows a preference for those of only a few years' growth. The 143