BIRDS
The list of the birds of Buckinghamshire does not compare very favourably with those of many other counties. It is an inland county, and therefore the numerous birds frequenting or occasionally visiting our coasts are absent or scarce. Compared with many other counties the number of collectors and field-ornithologists is small, and it seems to us that the country people generally are less observant than they are in some other parts of England.
On the other hand it has a variety of scenery, which has an impor- tant influence on the number of species of its birds. Most of the southern portion of the county is hilly. The ' Chiltern Hundreds ' and ' Chiltern Hills ' are dry, chalky hills, partly wooded, although in places rather bare, and are the home of cirl buntings (Emberiza cirlus), long-eared owls (Asio otus) and others.
The southern line of Buckinghamshire is separated by the Thames from Berkshire, and this river of course adds many species which would otherwise not occur in the county. The Vale of Aylesbury and- the flat, for a great part grass-covered, northern portion are very fertile, and possess streams and reservoirs, beautifully wooded parks and gardens, which are well stocked with birds.
We cannot avoid mentioning the Tring reservoirs, which comprise the large reservoirs near Marsworth, Little Tring, and Wilstone. These reservoirs were until quite recently large sheets of water, and they have always been visited by many water and shore birds, otherwise rare and unknown in the neighbourhood. They are well known as places where the great crested grebe (Podiceps crisfatus), numerous ducks and other birds breed. They have not been neglected by ornithologists. In for- mer years the late Rev. James Williams took some rare eggs on and near the reservoirs, which are now mostly in the collection of Miss Ellen Williams of Tring. The Rev. H. Harpur Crewe collated many notes on the birds frequenting these waters, which are mostly included in Mr. Clark Kennedy's book, and more recently the late Mr. J. E. Littleboy published many notes on birds from this neighbourhood supplied him by Mr. Rothschild ; Mr. Alan F. Grossman also has often visited the reser- voirs and obtained notes from the keeper Street. While the Rev. H. H. Crewe claimed the notes on birds recorded from the reservoirs for Buck- inghamshire, and Kennedy incorporated them in his Birds of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, Littleboy and Grossman have given all their notes in
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