62 PONDS, PADDOCKS, AND AVIARIES 



"July 28//4, 1 888. 

 " I have very great pleasure in offering for your 

 acceptance two Lapp owls (6". lapponicum),* of which species 

 I received ten young birds last night from Helsingfors, 

 with two of »S'. uralense, eight S. ulula, and five S. 

 tengmalmi. If these two last lots thrive, I could, and 

 should be glad to send you one or two of each." ^ 



"July T,ist, i888. 



" Alas ! I wrote to you in the first exultation of the 

 receipt of the owls that arrived late at night. I was not 

 able on account of the incessant rain to get out to see them 

 on Saturday, but seized an interval between showers on 

 Sunday to be wheeled round to inspect them ; and am sorry 

 to say that all of the Lapp owls have evidently been taken 

 from the nests much too soon, and with one or two excep- 

 tions, have one wing broken, besides a good deal of cramp 

 and general debility. Two of them drowned themselves 

 in a shallow pan ; of the eight left, I fear that I must lose 

 one. The others are all flourishing and as tame as can be. 



" P.S. — It has not rained for nearly two hours, and 

 I have just been to look round. The Lapps have, with 

 one exception, improved immensely since Sunday on warm 

 rats and rabbits. I do not know that any of these owls, 



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



* One of these Lapp Owls given me by Lord Lilford in i888 is 

 still alive, September 1902, and in perfect health; it is a male, and has 

 always had one stiff wing. These Lapp owls are the only individuals 

 of the species that have ever been imported into Britain. — E. G. B. M-W. 



