32 LOCAL OBSERVATION 



"July yd, 1890. 

 " Your young Cornish squire, as a protector of eagles 

 and falcons, deserves to be known and appreciated far and 

 wide. I rented a forest in Inverness-shire for several years, 

 and looked upon the golden eagles which bred there 

 annually, not only as my good friends on account of their 

 destruction of blue hares, which are pestilential nuisances 

 in stalking, but also on account of the wholesome dread they 

 inspired in the breasts of the grey crows, which will follow 

 and mob the sea-eagle, but sneak off the moor directly 

 a golden is in sight. A young falcon was caught alive in 

 October last on the Norfolk coast, in a shore net, and taken 

 uninjured to a friend of mine, who sent her off at once 

 to an ardent falconer friend in Herts ; the latter immediately 

 took her in hand and flew her at rooks, at which she flew 

 very well. In April last she sailed away and was lost, and 

 mirabile dictu, was shot by Lord Coke in the park 

 at Holkham, not more than a mile from where she was 

 originally taken, within twenty-four hours after she was lost. 

 Lord Coke, curiously enough, sent her body to my friend 

 who had first received her alive." ' 



^^Bournemouth, March nth, iSgo. 

 " The bearded vulture * or Gypaetus is to be met with 

 in all the sierras of Spain, but certainly does not breed 



' To the Rev. W. Willimott. 



* The Bearded Vulture {Gyfaetus barbatus) ranges over lofty 

 mountain chains from Portugal and Spain to the Himalayas. For an 

 account of Lord Lilford's domesticated pair, see Presidential Address, 

 P- 39- 



