8o PONDS, PADDOCKS, AND AVIARIES 



legged buzzards. Merlins do now and then rest in trees. 

 I know of one instance in Hants, and I believ'^e that in 

 Norway they frequently do so." ' 



'•^December i-jth, 1891. 



" The only Canarian bird that I have lost of late is 

 one of the trumpeter bullfinches two days ago, from some 

 unknown cause, in very fair condition. The Laurivora 

 shows no desire to nest : she is fairly tame. Two of the 

 C. bollii have paired, nested, and laid an egg within the last 

 ii^'N days, but my man tells me sit so irregularly that 

 there is little chance of hatching. The surviving houbara 

 is well, I am assured ; but as my hybernation com- 

 menced at the time of my upset on October 25th, and 

 lasts till May as a general rule, all my outdoor bird 

 news is derived from others. 



" I should think that Reeves's pheasants would do 

 admirably well in Palma. I know they are exceedingly 

 hardy, as Pere David, the Jesuit missionary who did so 

 much ornithology in North China, assured me that these 

 pheasants haunted pine forests at 5000 and 6000 feet 

 above the sea during the summer, living principally upon 

 mountain berries and small fir-cone seeds, and only came 

 down in the winter to the tea-gardens in the mountain 

 districts. 



" I should think that you will enjoy your months in 

 Morocco greatly, but I fear that you will have to go for 



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



