The New Forest: Its History and Its SceneryWise, John R. (John Richard)
History
The New Forest: Its History and Its Scenery
Wise, John R. (John Richard)
New Forest (England : Forest)
Blackheaded Gull. (_Larus ridibundus_, Lin.)
Kittiwake. (_Larus tridactylus_, Lath.)
Common Gull. (_Larus canus_, Lin.)
Lesser Blackbacked Gull. (_Larus fuscus_, Lin.) Used formerly to breed
in the Freshwater Cliffs of the Isle of Wight.
Great Blackbacked Gull. (_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.
Ring-ousel. (_Turdus 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.”
The Dotterel. (_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.
Golden Eagle. (_Falco chrysaëtos_, Lin.) The last seen was killed,
according to Mr. Hart, about twenty years ago, at the mouth of
Christchurch harbour.
Spotted Eagle. (_Falco nævius_, 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.
White-tailed Eagle. (_Falco albicilla_, Gmel.) _See_ Chapter XXII., p.
260.
Osprey. (_Falco haliæëtus_, Lin.) Might almost be classed as a regular
visitor in the autumn along the coast.
Goshawk. (_Falco palumbarius_, Lin.) Sometimes a stray bird is killed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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