BIRDS IN SURREY.
TuE county of Surrey has been highly favoured by Nature. Although the industry of 1312.11 has sadly dis- figured large portions near London, others, nearer the borders of Sussex and Hampshire, retain a surprising and agreeable wildness. Surrey contains for its size more uncultivated land than any other English county ; through its centre runs a range of chalk downs which command a series of noble prospects to the north and south; next comes a sandy region with extensive heaths and pine woods ; and, lastly, there is a tract of wealden clay well covered with fine oak woods. So varied a country lacks nothing but a sea border to make it a very paradise for the whole of the feathered world; and such, but for the intrusion of mankind, it doubt- less might be. In a recently published book, "The Birds of Surrey," by John A,. Bucknill (EL H. Porter, 21s. net), on the ornithology of the county may be found a most interesting account of the bird-life of Surrey. Mr. Bucknill, the author, has left no source of information unexplored, and he may be congratulated on the care and industry which he has devoted to the subject His book is a welcome contribu- tion to the literature of our birds. It is inevitable that much of such a book should be sad reading ; the destruction of rare stragglers is, doubtless, not to be avoided, but the steady extermination of inoffensive species which once bred Iii the county is very deplorable.
We would, however, rather turn from this melancholy aspect of the subject and congratulate ourselves upon the numbers of birds as well as the numbers of different species which regularly frequent the county at this present day. Of the smaller land birds there is an abundance ; and, if they are small enough to be considered harmless by the gamekeeper, there is little danger of their being destroyed yet awhile. The ring-ouzel, which nested on Hindhead in the "twenties," is now only a bird of passage. The furze-warbler, thanks to its shy demeanour, still breeds and remains all the year on several gorse-covered commons. The golden oriole, though regularly shot on its arrival, has not yet ceased coming nearly every spring. Strange to say, although the jay is very abundant, the wary magpie is almost extinct. The shy hawfinch and the elegant goldfinch nest in several localities. Busy flocks of crossbills come to the pine woods every winter; and some pairs remain through the summer. The cirl bunting, a rare bird very like ayellow hammer, is probably as common in Surrey as in any county of England. The grey wagtail's nest has been found at Wimbledon and at Barnes within the last few years. The birds of prey include the barn owl and the brown owl, which are not uncommon; and it seems the same may be said of the long-eared owl about Farnham, where there is a fine tract of wild country; the northern parts of which have, however, been sadly devastated by the operations of the military from Aldershot. Among the falcons only two breed in the county,—the kestrel and sparrowhawk. The buzzard resided there in the earlier half of this century, and would most likely nest, if it could be tolerated, even in these days. Nearly all the rarer hawks are recorded from different places as stragglers, who meet with the usual fate. An osprey was shot at Cobham (by a miscreant who, unfortunately, has not received the punishment he deserves) only last October; but several others have recently visited different ponds and have escaped unharmed. There are still at least three flourishing heronries in Surrey,—one in Richmond Park (which was nearly put an end to by wood-cutting officials a few years ago) ; a second at Waverley Abbey in high Scotch firs ; and a third in Lord Midleton's park at Peperharow. Three others are also mentioned by Mr. Buckaill as having been deserted within the last forty years or so. The mallard and the teal are the only members of the duck family which still nest in Surrey; and the teals are probably confined to a very few pairs.
Passing on to the game-birds, the black grouse claims the most attention; for the history of this noble species in Surrey is full of interest. It is with sincere satisfaction that we accept Mr. Bucknilrs assurance that the black-game are not yet totally extinct. How many years longer the species can hold out we may well wonder. The black-game have always confined themselves to two heather - covered localities, of which Leith Hill is the centre of one and Hindhead of the other. In both districts the birds have gradually declined in numbers, partly from being too freely shot, partly from the increase of human population, poachers, and egg-stealers ; for the game-preservers do not seem to have devoted much atten- tion to the black-game. Yet in the Leith Hill district Mr. Borrer, a Sussex ornithologist, remembered seeing twenty cocks in one pack about the year of the Reform Bill ; and till 1870 they were abundant, some six brace being upon occasions shot in a day. Then came a period of rapid dis- appearance, and about ten years ago the Leith Hill colony was exterminated. About Hindhe,ad the black-game still survive, but the pairs which rear their broods cannot hold the balance against the exterminating forces. In the hunting season they are occasionally dislodged from some secluded copses, and pedestrians who traverse "that vast mountainous heath on the Portsmouth road" may still, though rarely, flush a solitary bird. Efforts have been made to introduce fresh blood so long ago as 1815—and they have been con- tinued at intervals—but the destroying march of civilisation is now too rapid to contend against. The late Duke of Gloucester and a certain Colonel Chaloner turned out some red grouse in the vicinity of Bagshot and Cobham at the beginning of this century, but the experiment was not rewarded. Quails sometimes nest in the county, and fre- quently come as autumn visitors. Mr. Bucknill declares there is one locality (which he rightly keeps to himself) where the stone-curlews may be seen every summer. This is good news, for the bird is a rare species near London, and a lover of extensive solitudes and open downs. But more surprising is the mention of a pair of curlews which all the summer of 1893 were noticed near Frensham, and are supposed to have had a nest on the heath.
The River Thames affords a waterway from the sea by which many strange stragglers, gulls, terns, waders, guille- mots, and similar sea-fowl, have made their way into the county, and so have been converted into Surrey specimens. From the local bird-stuffers the records of many extra- ordinary species may be obtained. A heavy gale, too, from the south blows exhausted puffins and petrels from the Channel, across Sussex, over the Surrey border. All these are included and swell the catalogue; but such stragglers are of very inferior interest compared with the residents and regular visitors to the county. Our account of Surrey birdi would, however, be very imperfect if we omitted all mentior of the Siberian thrush ; for the only specimen known to have visited the British Islands was killed between Guildford and Godalming in the winter of 1860. It is an Asiatic species, which has occasionally travelled as far west as Europe, but succumbs before it crosses the English Channel. It is a pleasure to end with the mention of two fine birds which appear to be increasing in numbers. The kingfisher and the great crested grebe are both commoner in Surrey than they were; and we are glad to find Mr. Bucknill's remarks agree with our personal observations in the county. The king- fisher may be seen on almost every stream in Surrey by those who have the patience to wait. The great crested grebe has nested lately on at least five pieces of -water in the county, and we have little doubt that other unrecorded spots might be added to these.
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