Ixxiv Journal of Proceedings. 



"Forty years ago Mr. Travis himself, then a resident close to the 

 aviary at Audley End, was sitting at breakfast one morning during the 

 last half of September, when he saw a large hawk fly by, and, following 

 it immediately with his gun, soon shot it as it sat upon a tree. No par- 

 ticulars seem to have been preserved with respect to it, but it was probably 

 an old bird, as Mr. Travis remembers having noticed the bright yellow of 

 its eye as it lay upon the ground. Shortly after, perhaps a week or a 

 fortnight, a man named Colman, a brickmaker, shot another almost 

 exactly at the same spot. Mr. Travis stuffed them both ; the first is now 

 in Lord Braybrooke's fine collection, but the second has been sent to the 

 North of England. Mr. Travis further says that nearly fifty years ago 

 another was shot at Newport, but that no\v-a-days individuals are exceed- 

 ingly few and far between in this district. He also wishes me to mention 

 that three years ago he stufi'ed for Lord Braybrooke, in whose collection 

 it now is, a splendid Kite which had been trapped by Chandler, the head- 

 keeper, on the edge of Pounce Hall Wood, about a mile from Saffron 

 Walden. 



" As aheady mentioned, a most unusual number of the larger hawks, 

 principally Honey Buzzards, have been killed since the middle of Sep- 

 tember — three numbers alone of the ' Field,' which appeared lately, 

 making mention of about fifty ; some in the northern counties, but by far 

 the greater number in the eastern counties, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, 

 — while many more are doubtless only recorded in local newspapers and 

 other ephemeral publications. It seems that Buzzards and many of the 

 other Hawks are only summer visitants to this country and that they are 

 generally seen at the times of their spring and autumn migration — rarely 

 during the spring, as they then mostly go north by some other route ; 

 but in the autumn they are more frequently observed, because both old 

 and young birds are mo^ing, and for some reason or other their path 

 then lies through England. It would be interesting to have the opinion 

 of our member Mr. Harting, or some other competent person, on the 

 cause of their api^earance this autumn in such very unusual numbers. 



"I am but too well aware that it is perfectly useless to make a merely 

 verbal protest against the shooting of these interesting and much abused 

 bu'ds, which are so rapidly being exterminated for purely selfish reasons, 

 or no reason at all. In most cases they are killed by ignorant game- 

 keepers, though, in the case of the Honey Buzzards, which have come in 

 for such particularly rough usage this year, there can surely be no hawks 

 which are less destructive to game. If we wish to do anything in this 

 matter we must agitate for a serviceable ' Wild Birds' Protection Act,' 

 framed by practical ornithologists, and not by game-preserving landlords, 

 or mere lawyers, unacquainted with the necessities and facts of the case. 

 The present act is incaj^able of effecting much good in a matter in Avhich 

 all lovers of Nature are so deei:)ly interested ; it can be evaded with little 

 fear of detection, and it leaves our raptorial birds at the mercy of the 

 landowners to be destroyed at all stages of their life in the supposed 

 interests of their selfish pleasures. Although scarcely a year old it has 

 already been amended by another Act, and even now it is practically little 

 better than the tlu'ee miserably inoperative jneces of legislation it was 

 intended to supersede and improve. I rejoice to hear that there is one 

 district in Essex at least where such a i^leasing and harmless bird as our 

 Honey Buzzard may show itself without fear of being shot down : long 

 may the Conservators of Epping Forest enforce and extend their enlight- 

 ened protection of the innocents." 



Mr. W. \\liite recorded the occurrence of another Honey Buzzard in 

 Essex. The bird was caught on the morning of 24th September, 1881, 



