REDBREAST (_Sylvia rubecula_).—A whole brood, two old and four young, used to disport themselves on the quilt of an old bedridden woman on Otterbourne Hill. It is the popular belief that robins kill their fathers in October, and the widow of a woodman declared that her husband had seen deadly battles, also that he had seen a white robin, but she possibly romanced. REDSTART (_Phænicura ruticilla_).—Sometimes seen, but not often. GRASSHOPPER-WARBLER (_Salicaria locustella_).—Well named, for it chirps exactly like a grasshopper in the laurels all through a summer evening. SEDGE-WARBLER (_Salicaria fragilis_).—Whoever has heard it scolding and chattering in a ridiculous rage at a strange footstep will not wonder at the Scotch name of Blethering Jock. A pair nested in Dell Copse for some years, and the curious nest has been found among the reeds on the banks of the Itchen. NIGHTINGALE (_Sylvia luscinia_).—Every year about the 18th of April the notes may be heard by the gate of Cranbury, in a larch wood on Otterbourne Hill, in the copse wood of Otterbourne House, at Oakwood, and elsewhere. For about a week there is constant song, but after nesting begins, it is less frequent. One year there was a nest in the laurels at Otterbourne House (since taken away), and at eight in the morning and seven at night the nightingale came on the lawn to feed, and was every morning chased by a surly John Bull of a robin. When the young are coming out of the nest the parents chide them, or strangers, in a peculiarly harsh chirp. BLACKCAP (_Sylvia atricapilla_).—Fair and sweet, but not very frequent; nested in Dell Copse. WHITETHROAT (_Sylvia cinerea_).—Darts about gardens, and is locally called Nettle-creeper. LESSER WHITETHROAT (_S. curruca_).—Eggs in Dell Copse. WOOD-WARBLER (_Sylvia sylvicola_).—Eggs taken at Cranbury. WILLOW-WARBLER (_Sylvia trochilus_).—Eggs taken at Baddesley. CHIEFCHAFF (_Sylvia hippolaïs_).—Common in spring. GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN (_Sylvia auricapilla_).—A happy little inhabitant of the fir-trees, where it nests, and it is often to be seen darting in and out of a quickset hedge. SKYLARK (_Alauda arvensis_).—The joy of eyes and ears in every open field. True to the kindred points of heaven and home. WOODLARK (_Alauda arborea_).—Otterbourne Park and Cranbury. YELLOW-BUNTING or YELLOW-HAMMER (_Emberiza citrinella_).—A great ornament, especially in autumn, when it sits on rails, crying, “A little bit of bread and no che-e-ese!” BLACKHEADED or REED BUNTING (_Emberiza schænidus_).—Brambridge, April 1896. SPARROW (_Passer domesticus_).—One curious fact about this despised animal is that the retired farmer, after whom Elderfield is named, made it his business to exterminate the village sparrows. He often brought them down to one, but always by the next morning that sparrow had provided himself with a mate to share his Castle Dangerous. Sparrows’ (or sprows’) heads make a figure in many church ratebooks.