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C. J. Cornish - The Naturalist on the Thames
Berkshire, tells me that they are of great service in this way, as they dig and enlarge the earths,
and so prevent the taint of mange clinging to the sides if a mangy fox has lain in them.
Lying between the river and the hills, this wood holds nearly every species of the larger woodland and
riverine birds common to southern England. The hobby breeds there yearly. The wild pheasant, crow,
sparrow-hawk, kestrel, magpie, jay, ringdove, brown owl, water-hen (on the river-bounded side), in
summer the cuckoo and turtle-dove, are all found there, and, with the exception of the pigeons and
kestrels, which seek their food at a distance during the day, they seldom leave the shelter of its trees. One
other species frequents the more open parts of the cover in yearly greater numbers; this is the common
grey partridge. The wood has an increasing attraction for them. They nest in it, fly to it at once for shelter
when disturbed, lie in the thick copses during the heat of the day, and roost there at night. Several covies
may be seen on the wing in a few minutes if the stubbles outside are disturbed in the evening, flying to
the wood. There they alight, and run like pheasants, refusing to rise if followed. It is said that in the most
thickly planted parts of Hampshire the partridge is becoming a woodland bird, like the ruffed grouse of
North America. All that it needs to learn is how to perch in a tree, an art which the red-legged partridge
possesses. The birds, unlike the foxes, hares, and rabbits, avoid the centre of the wood. Only the owls and
wood-pigeons haunt the interior. All the other species live upon the edge. They dislike the darkness, and
draw towards the sun. The jays keep mainly to one corner by the river. The sparrow-hawks have also
their favourite corner. The wild pheasants lead a life in curious contrast to that of the tame birds in the
preserves. Like their ancestors in China and the Caucasus, they prefer the osier-beds and reeds by the
river to the higher and drier ground. But in common with all the other birds of the wood, with the
exception of the brown owls, they move round the wood daily, following the sun. In the early
morning they are on the eastern margin to meet the sunrise. At noon they move round to the south, and in
the evening are on the stubbles to the west. Where the pheasants are there will the other birds be found,
in an unconscious search for light. It is the shelter and safety of the big wood, and not the presence of
crowded vegetation, that attracts them. They seek the wood, not from choice, but because it is a city of
refuge.
[1] These observations were made some years ago. I believe it has been found necessary to kill down the
rabbits since.
SPORT AT WITTENHAM
There is always some rivalry about shooting different woods on adjacent properties, and the villages near
always take a certain interest in the results. Visiting our nearest riverside inn to order luncheon for our
own shoot that week, I found about a dozen labourers in the front room, with a high settle before the fire
to keep the draught out, sitting in a fine mixed odour of burning wood, beer, and pipes. Sport was the
pervading topic, for a popular resident had been shooting his wood, and many of the men had been
beating for him, and had their usual half-crown to spend. They were all talking over the day at the top of
their voices; it had been a very good one. The wood is quite isolated and not more than forty acres. All
round it is the property of one of the Oxford Colleges, which retains the sporting rights over about fifteen
hundred acres. This is exercised by one of their senior fellows under some arrangement which works
perfectly well so far as I can see. I asked our keeper, who always calls him "The Doctor," whether he was
a medicine doctor or a doctor of divinity. He inclined to think he was the latter, as he belonged to college
shooting. This way of putting it struck me as odd, but he was right. Any way, he looked a very pleasant
figure in his long shooting coat and old-fashioned Bedford cords. There is also a college keeper, who is
an institution in the village. The day's sport in "the Captain's wood" had been a success. Forty hares had
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