71 
Correspondence. 
Tue Common Buzzarv (Buteo 
vulgaris) —‘‘ A Common Buzzard 
was shot in Windsor Great Park by 
one of the keepers in the summer of 
1857. Another specimen was pro- 
cured there about the same time, 
but by the time it reached the bird- 
stuffers hands it was useless. These 
two birds had been seen about for 
some time together and were prob- 
ably a pair.” Such is the first para- 
graph in Mr. Clark-Kennedy’s des- 
cription of this rare bird, and it justly 
explains the cause of its scarcity. 
However, game keepers are not the 
only destroyers of our birds of prey, 
for I have lately received a long and 
interesting account from a gentle- 
man in the neighbourhood, Mr. R. 
Spicer, of Marlow, of his share in 
the discovery of a Buzzard’s nest, 
and the taking of the eggs. It was 
in the year 1806, when he was a 
pupil of the Rev. Thomas Scott, at 
Gawcott, near Buckingham, that he 
and his two fellow pupils, while 
shooting in the neighbourhood, dis- 
covered a Buzzard’s nest in the top 
of a high Oak tree. The tree was 
of great size, and the nest was built 
on a fork which towered some 5 feet 
above the rest of the tree. His 
companions tried, but in vain, to reach 
the nest. My informant then es- 
sayed to do so, and after labours 
which nearly exhausted him, suc- 
ceeded in gaining the summit, and 
to his great joy found two eggs, very 
round, large, and thick, white, with 
yellow spots, and strongly resem- 
bling turkeys’ eggs. After a long 
rest, rendered necessary by his ex- 
hausting efforts, he descended safely. 
The nest is described ay being built 
of sticks, lined with bents. The 
above act of spoliation, although 
much to be lamented, will be ex- 
cused on the sins of youth, and of 
the great temptation offered, which, 
I fear, would have been resisted by 
few. However, the instance quoted 
by Mr. Clark-Kennedy and the one 
I have narrated show that it is only 
owing to the relentless persecution 
of our birds of prey that they are 
becoming more scarce every year. 
Many species, including the Kite, 
are now seldom seen in districts 
where they were formerly compara- 
tively common. That they would 
become so again there is but little 
doubt, were not the spirit of exter- 
mination so rife, and so indiscrimi- 
nating in its operation. 
T. MarsHatt. 
In the last number of “ The 
Quarterly Magazine of the High 
Wycombe Natural History Society” 
is a paper by Mr. W. R. Tate, “ On 
the Future Existence of the Lower 
Animals,’’ in which it is stated that 
they did not prey upon each other 
before the fall of man. Allow me, 
without entering upon the subject of 
the paper, to correct that statement. 
A great many species of carnivorous 
animals existed long before the ap- 
pearance of man upon the earth. 
The bones of animals found in caves 
often bear the marks of the teeth of 
the hyzenas and bears that lived in 
the caves, and whose remains are 
also found there, together with their 
excrement, composed mainly of phos- 
phate of lime, derived from the bones 
of their victims, Remains of crusta- 
ceans also are found in the unejected 
feces (coprolites) of the great Liassic 
sauria, lying in sitw between the ribs 
of the skeletons. 
W. H. Datron. 
Littte Aux (Mergulus melano- 
leucos) ar Axnincpon.—‘ One of 
our keepers shot a Little Auk on the 
Thames here yesterday. As our 
nearest point to the sea is distant 
some sixty miles, the appearance of 
such a bird is a singular occurrence. 
The Common Gull is not unfre- 
quently seen here after heavy gales, 
but a bird of the diver tribe must 
have been very hard pressed to take 
such a long inland flight. E. W. 
Harcourt (Nuneham Park, Abing- 
don, Nov. 7)’’—Field, Nov. 14, 1868. 
Mr. Clark-Kennedy, in his “ Birds 
of Berks and Bucks,” notes only 
two previous occurrences of the bird 
