NOTES. 85 



Waldo reported progress to the members of the British Orni- 

 thologists' Club (c/. Bull. B.O.C., XXV., pp. 82-3). In 1905 

 four young were reared, raising the total to nine. In 1906 

 three young were knouTi to be reared, raising the total to 

 twelve. In 1907 the Kites appear to have increased by four ; 

 while in 1908 six nests were known, yet no young seem to 

 have been reared owing to mishaps. In 1909 seven pairs 

 were kno\ATi, but only one young one appears to have fledged. 

 Thus in 1909 fifteen bu-ds in any case were known to exist, 

 and there may very well have been more in the wild country 

 they frequent. This year Mr. Meade- Waldo tells me the good 

 news that out of four nests watched six young ones are safe, 

 and we may hope that the other pairs have been equally for- 

 tunate. Thus in five years the number of Kites has been 

 raised from five to well over twenty. 



It is painful to have to admit that this result has only been 

 achieved by force. That is to say, the nests have been watched 

 night and day to prevent their being robbed by the collector 

 of rare British eggs or his agent. The extinction of any 

 creature in any area is a deplorable loss to science, yet many 

 of those Avho would not hesitate to jeopardise the existence of 

 any rare British breeding-bird by taking its eggs have the 

 audacity to call themselves scientific, and it has become 

 necessary for those who take a more correct view to spend 

 their time and money in protecting ornithology from " orni- 

 thologists " ! 



The collecting of " British taken " eggs is a mania, and it 

 can be called nothing else, which is an undoubted and 

 dangerous menace to the science of ornithology. 



H. F. WiTHERBY. 



ON THE FOOD OF THE COMMON HERON. 



On June 6th, 1910, I visited a well-knoA^Ti heronry and found 

 that the nests contained young in all stages of growth and 

 some eggs not yet hatched. On leaving the trees some of 

 the old birds vomited up half-digested food, and two specimens 

 which I examined consisted of eels and moles. The stomach of 

 a bird about a week old contained two eels, each six inches 

 long, the remains of what appeared to be water-beetles, and 

 several shrimps ; the latter had been turned quite pink by 

 the digestive process. There were also in the stomach several 

 long pieces of grass and some macerated wood-fibre, as well 

 as two dead, but freshly-swallowed, oak-twigs, the larger 



