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.
Chaffinch (Fringilla cælebs).—Chink is the Hampshire name. The hens do not here migrate in winter, but a whole flight of them has been seen in the autumn on the Winchester road, evidently on their way; and once, after an early severe frost, about a hundred were found dead in a haystack near Basingstoke. Thomas Chamberlayne, Esq., who had a singular attraction for birds, used to have them coming to eat grain from his pocket. It has the perfection of a nest.
Goldfinch (Carduelis elegans).—This exquisite little bird is frequent on the borders of the chalk hills, where there is plenty of thistledown.