24 LOCAL OBSERVATION 



"June 24th, 1887. 



" I am exceedingly obliged to you for your very 

 interesting letter, which reached me here yesterday, and 

 for the very perfect nest and eggs of wood warblers that 

 came safely to hand this morning. The only one of 

 my people here who knows this bird assures me that 

 there are two pairs within a short distance of this house 

 (they are by no means common just hereabouts),* but that 

 he cannot find a nest. We are not much troubled by 

 collectors in these parts, probably because we have no 

 heaths or commons, and, as far as is generally known, 

 no ornithological specialities. 



" We have a fine crop of barn owls, but not quite so 

 many tawnies as usual. What do you say about the male 

 owls sitting in a wild state .? I have known of more 

 than one instance of a tawny male, and scops, ditto, shot 

 from the nest." ' 



"January 21st, 1896. 



" The black-throated diver recorded by me in last 

 Field is the only unusual bird that has occurred to 

 my knowledge in the district of late. We had thousands 

 of fieldfares, and our usual number of redwings ; about 

 our average of woodcocks (a very small one), hardly any 

 snipe, and no wild-fowl except mallard, in any number. 

 " The woodpigeon malady of diseased primary feathers 



' To E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, Esq. 



* Because the \\'ood Warbler {Phylloscopui sibilatrix) is a beech- 

 loving species. 



